


Pinky Promise

by saritaaa



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Eating Disorders, F/F, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:27:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24438934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saritaaa/pseuds/saritaaa
Summary: AU Calzona/ After a huge misunderstanding, Arizona broke up with Callie about twenty years ago. She recently accepted a new job in Seattle, and moved there with her brother, Timothy. There, she met the way of someone she thought she'd never meet again. If only she'd known...Repost from FF.net up till chapter 9 ! Will update the rest in time
Relationships: Arizona Robbins/Calliope "Callie" Torres, Lexie Grey/Mark Sloan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I recently started writing again and thought I'd post it over here too.

\- Caaaaal move on, we're going to be late at work! Mark yelled after he swung the door of his best friend's flat opened.

"I'm coooming! Callie responded while trying to put on her shoes."

Sofia greeted her dad and gave him a hug. "Morning baby girl" he said and kissed her on the forehead. They made small talk until Sofia left for high school. As Mark and Callie were heading to work, Callie was trying to share with Mark her insecurities about Sofia. Indeed she felt like for a few weeks Sofia wasn't herself anymore. And Sofia meant everything to her mom; since they were living only the two of them for seventeen years already, she cared about her daughter more than anyone else could ever care. When they talked, the younger wasn't listening. She wasn't really there. At first Callie thought that this too would pass. Mark said that she was probably heartbroken. "I could find that jackass easily and beat the-" Callie cut him off. "No Mark, I feel like it's more serious… I don't know…" her pager went off, and she simply decided to let it drop.

As Callie was scrubbing out of her third surgery of the day, she checked out her messages. A nurse had told her she had received a text from her daughter, however she had preferred to read it later, when she would be alone. She knew how fast the gossip was spreading around at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, and she didn't want Sofia to take part in them by any means. The text was just saying that she felt sick so she went home at 1pm. God, why couldn't Mark take these things seriously. Callie genuinely thought he was the best dad Sofia could ever ask for, but in moments like these, she really felt like she was the only one worrying.

It was 1:30 and she was hungry. Heck, hungry was an understatement. She'd had to left without eating this morning, as Mark was more than stressed this morning. Gee, thanks Mark. As she was heading to the cafeteria, she quickly texted her daughter back asking whether she should bring her something to eat or some pills against stomach aches. After she had paid for her food, the ortho surgeon spotted a table where her friends were eating and laughing.

There were sitting a hot redhead, Dr Addison Montgomery who had been Callie's first «true» friend when they entered med school. From there, they did together, with Mark and Derek, all of their studies, internships and residencies, along with their fellowships. The group of four had studied in New York, and when Richard offered Derek the Head of the Neuro Department at SGMW, he also offered Mark the Plastic's one. They all arrived in Seattle about five years ago.

Sitting next to the OB attending, were Mark and Derek. They were cracking silly jokes and Addie couldn't help but roll her eyes. Callie took the chair in front of her best friend, they started light conversations around their meals. But the brunette wasn't hungry anymore, and couldn't help but try to find something to make her daughter feel better. Maybe I could cook her something this evening. Or, we could have a TV night in front of one of her favorite tv show.

When she came back to her senses, Addison was the only one left to the table. "What were you thinking about? Some new boo of yours?" the red head teased. As soon as her best friend looked up in her eyes, she knew this wasn't something to laugh about. And as the ortho surgeon was explaining it all to the OB, who also happened to be Sofia's godmother, she thought she'd seen someone she never would again….

_Is that you?_

"You seriously look like you've just seen a ghost" stated matter-of-factly Amelia to her best friend from Hopkins who had just arrived to Seattle Grace Mercy West, Arizona Robbins.

Arizona was tall, blonde, blue-eyed and occasionally the new Head of Pediatrics at Seattle Grace Mercy West. She was brought here by Amelia Shepherd who happened to be Derek's sister. They had been friends since their first day of med school, and luckily enough, they had even been taken as interns in the same hospital. So, when the peds surgeon heard about this job, she immediately jumped on the occasion. She was going to make this program one of the best Peds program of the country.

"Zona? Are you even listening to me?" the neuro surgeon teased. "I know my brother is as close as perfect as human can be, but aren't you into girls?" Amelia stated while taking a sip of her soda.

"I am, I am. Who… Who's sitting with him?" the blonde dared to ask. She couldn't stop staring at her. Is that really her tho? I… I've carefully never read any of the med articles, except some of those that involve pediatrics, you know, because I want to be the best in what I do, but…Calliope? Yeah, she definitely never would have been a peds surgeon. So I never really knew that she was…a surgeon. I've sure seen articles signed Dr Torres, M.D but I mean, there must be tons of Torres in the country…isn't there? Her mind was a mess.

"Sooo… the hot man sitting across my brother is Mark Sloan. Hot, self confident, manwhore from what the nurses say, Head of Plastics. He probably hooked up with most of the hospital females. Even with meeeh…" at this, the blonde's face turned back to the brunette. She wasn't shocked, she was more than that! « What? His Sloan Method is really amazing! Anyway. » seeing her friend's facial expression, she preferred to just skip this part. "Then the read head is Addison Montgomery. She's always been stuck between Mark and Derek. Addie's the best OB/GYN on the West Coast. Always classy." That she could say. "And the brunette is Callie Torres. Ortho god, they call her. She'd deserve the Head of Ortho but…Chang is a dinosaur who doesn't want to quit. The four of them are inseparable since med school. I still remember this time Derek entered…"

At this, Arizona was lost in her thoughts. She simply couldn't believe it. Her Callie was here, in the same freaking hospital. Not mine anymore. She took a glance at the hot goddess across the room. She didn't know how long she stared until she saw her brother sitting next to Amy.

"Lil sis, how are you doing? I gotta say, our first day is pretty amazing. People here are so, so nice. And there are a bunch of hot women tho!" he started laughing along with Amelia. "Your sister seems almost depressed. Like, she just stared the front door for ten minutes." The brunette's arm got slapped by the blonde. "Shut up, that's not true." Although it was too true…

Timothy's first morning had been nothing but boring. He was a trauma surgeon because he wanted action, and doing rounds and charts wasn't any action. So, when his first page of the day was a 911, he couldn't help but smile and run to the ER.

As he was heading toward them, he greeted some nurses and fellow doctors. This place was nice, and he truly thought they could be happy here. Like, he and his sister could find someone and live a peaceful nice.

If I knew that someday, I'd want to live « peacefully ». he thought to himself.

He was picking out a trauma yellow scrub when he noticed waiting outside someone he hadn't seen in years. Callie Torres.

Since her lunch, Callie's stomach was in knots. Is that really her? I mean, I don't know. She's changed so much. She isn't any punk fan anymore, I bet. I know she's one of the best Pediatrician from one of the best Peds program in the country, but… it might not be her, right?

She quickly went to her place and checked in on her daughter. It was supposed to calm her down, however it didn't. She made her a quick chicken soup and forced her to eat, then headed straight back to work. She was lucky enough that her pager didn't go off until she'd stepped back in the hospital.

She was waiting in her yellow - and ugly, if she said so herself - trauma gown when she heard someone calling her.

"Kaleidopy! Is that really you?"

Callie's head snapped back at him. She was expecting to meet her sister, but not him. As he opened wild his arms, they hugged and started talking."T! If I knew I'd see you again here." Callie was so happy to run into her old friend. Like the good old times.

But just as they opened their mouth, the paramedic flushed in and started her recite. "Female, 42, european…" and they had to call off their conversation.

Finally, at past 8pm, Mark saw Callie appearing in the lobby of the hospital. As she started apologizing, she recognized someone from her past she knew so, so well. And they were talking with Addison; ouch. Daddy's mad…

"Why you like, never told me about them?" Mark snapped at her. He seemed really pissed. She didn't know what to say…. they were neighbors? friends? best friends? her first lover? girlfriend? Ugh, too complicated.

"I… I don't know! It's not like I was seeing them without you knowing. I mean… ugh, I was surprised too to see them at lunch, Mark!" Callie tried to explain. "Wait… are you jealous or something?" She couldn't believe it. Mark was being jealous! It wasn't like they were in any sort of relationship. Except co-parenting, that they pretty rocked if they'd say so themselves.

"What? No I'm not! I just thought that the mother of my child would tell me when such things happen, as her best friend coming into our hospital! For good." The tall man finished in a whisper. Oh yeah, definitely jealous. Callie couldn't hold in her laughter anymore. "Stop being such a kid, Daddy!" Mark tried to hold her by the arm as she walked toward Addison, but she simply smacked his hand.

"Joe's everyone?" Derek proposed. As they all agreed but Mark and Callie, Timothy simply asked: "Who's Joe? Is he like, another surgeon or something?" Everyone laughed and explained to him that Joe was in fact the bartender from The Esmeralda City Bar across the street. Callie couldn't help but wondered where was Arizona. Would she come?

"Hmm… Tim. You- you should come. You know, one day, come over and we could catch up!" Callie directly proposed to the young man. « Tell Az she can come too, o-of course.. » the words came out so fast she hadn't even thought about them. The beginning looked like she was bold and self-confident but actually, she wasn't. Shit. Why did you tell this Callie?

"Yes! I'm sure she'll be really happy to come too!" Tim answered sincerely. "Wait, you two don't come drink something tonight?" seeing their face, he tried to convince them to stay. "Come on, just one drink or two! For your old friend, Cal!"

"I'm sorry, Sofia's waiting for us at home… Another night, maybe?" the woman tried to apologize. "Addie will give you my phone number so… just text me some time this week?" After a goodbye hug, and a promise to catch up really soon, Callie exited the hospital with Mark.

As soon as they were out of sight, Tim couldn't help but ask who was Sofia. So Addison, realizing everyone was waiting for her to explain Callie's situation to her friend, sighed and tried her best to do so. "Sofia's their daughter. She… uhh she was feeling sick today so Callie made Mark promise to stop by her place tonight!" She finished on a smile, obviously forced.

"Thank god! I thought Sofia was her wife, seriously." He laughed at his saying. "Wait, does that mean Mark's her husband? Or boyfriend? And… How old is Sofia?" He asked, suddenly sensing that this was probably why neither of them was speaking anymore.

"No! no no no, nothing like that. They never were really together… It just, well, they slept together once and…" Addison went red, she didn't know what to tell to the man. He was way too curious. "Ugh, you know what? She'll explain everything to you herself!"


	2. Chapter 2

Meanwhile, Mark and Callie were prepping some dinner for the three of them, as Sofia felt apparently better. They decided to eat Callie's chicken piccata so then they could watch something on the TV. As everyone was busying themselves around the kitchen, the mood was light and they were just chatting about anything and everything. The weather in Seattle was cold and colder as the days flew by. It was mid November which meant that Callie would soon have lots of patients with sprained ankles or dislocated shoulders who fell on the streets. But she couldn't also help but hope one or two big accidents with massive bone fractures. She loved breaking bones. Mending, I meant mending bones, of course.

Sofia was narrowing her latest days to her parents, who were listening very carefully. When she brought yet again the topic of college. "Mami, I want to audition for Juilliard at least… Please. So that if I'm not taken, I'll know it! I mean…" she stopped speaking when her mother gave her a hard glare. "Daddy, say something please!" she begged and pulled out her best puppy eyes.

Callie was sick of this conversation so she just let Mark tell something, for once. "You know… your mom and I will talk about this, and.. we'll see. We'll see the options and-" Mark tried to stay neutral.

However Sofia had another idea. She cut him off "But I need to apply first! I- I mean I'd really want this to work out…" Callie saw her daughter hopeless, so she just brushed the topic off. "We'll talk about over the weekend, okay?" As no one responded, she just announced that dinner was ready.

Once they were all settled around the table, the mood swung again. They were talking about the hospital - and school - gossip and cracking jokes. "Soo how are things with Lexie, Dad?" the younger Latina asked her father playfully. Mark tried to mumble something, as Callie raised an eyebrow and decided to follow their daughter. "Yeah, how are things going, Daddy?" They were both having so much fun seeing Mark speechless.

"Well, hm you know, we are… hm good. Yeah we're good." He finally managed to get out.

"Good? That's all you got huh?" Sofia teased. As soon as she caught her mother's glare on her, she quickly apologized. The famous Torres glare never fails.

"You know, when I said a family dinner, you could always bring her. You always can. You love her, then she's welcome here too." Callie finally spoke with sincerity. "Thanks I'll tell her next time… and I don't love her, by the way." Callie gave him the 'oh yeah' look. "Let's just say for now that I really, really, really like her." They all gently chuckled.

Once Mark was back in his apartment across the hall, Sofia helped her mom doing the dishes. "Do you think they'll end up married?" Callie's head snapped back at her daughter. "Wait, what?"

"You know, Lexie and Daddy. I mean, even though he doesn't say it out loud yet, he clearly loves her. And so does she. Maybe I'll finally have the baby brothers or sisters you never gave me" The smaller girl played.

But Callie's tone was more serious. She took a seat next to her daughter at the breakfast bar and began. "You know mija… Lexie's younger so, they have all the time they need. And your dad will always want children. He's good with kids. Don't worry about brothers or sisters."

"I'm not a little girl anymore, mom. Next year I'm going off to college, you know. You… you can make your life with someone, too." Her mom tried to cut her off. "No, I mean it. Man, woman, I don't know… but I don't want you to be all alone while I'm going across the country for my studies. And I think you deserve someone, to be happy with."

"I'm happy with you!" Callie tried to argue. But her daughter headed back to her room, and let the words she just spoke sink into her mother's mind.

The next morning, Arizona was pouring herself a mug of coffee when her brother bursted into her living room. "Morning Arkansas!" The blonde couldn't help but roll her eyes to her brother. "Stop calling me like I'm another state, you should know that it wasn't after the state of Arizona that I was named but-" the blonde was reciting a speech she had probably given thousands of time since her childhood.

"But after the battleship, the USS Arizona, I know it Az. I heard Daddy giving you this speech too, remember?" Her brother teased. Of course he knew it, it was him who reminded it every day to her, when she came home upset after having been teased by mean boys in school.

"Don't call me that neither!" The blonde fired back. "Only she called me that." she whispered. Tim noticed her glaze fade, but didn't say anything about that. He thought that if his sister never talked about it in all these years, she must have a reason.

"You seriously didn't know about her when you got the job here?" he asked innocently.

"You do know how this ended up. I mean, we had a dream together, sure. Like, becoming surgeons and saving lives, but I didn't think she would actually do it. And I bet she didn't I would either." Arizona added, their memories flowing back into her mind.

_Flashback_

It was mid-summer. Callie and Timothy had just graduated from high school. They had both worked so hard during those last few months to be the best, and they were. Callie got accepted into Stanford, Yale and Columbia. Sure, Stanford was prestigious and everything, but the Latina opted for Columbia, in New York. She'd already visited this city numerous times with her father and she simply loved it there. Expect she wouldn't be with her girl anymore…

"So... big day's here, huh? You moving tomorrow morning, at crack dawn?" The blonde came behind her, and hugged her tightly.

"Yeah… finally." Callie breathed out. She was so scared. Scared that she might be leaving the blonde for good. Scared that they would never be with someone, like they were with one another. She was also scared that she might fail at med school. And scared that she'd come back home next vacation and find the blonde all happy, with another girl. And she could just blame herself for that… Because it felt like I was leaving her. It really did.

"Babe… promise me something." The Latina shook her head to think more clearly, then added. "Promise me you'll make your dreams come true. Even if I'm not here, to push you, to give you self confidence… Even if we're not together anymore…" the blonde tried to cut her but she simply continued. "Promise me, you'll become the amazing doctor you're aspiring to be." Tears were now streaking from her eyes down her face.

Arizona didn't respond right away. She took the time to look deeply into those brown eyes she loved so much. The brunette's curvy body was shaking from fear of the unknown. "I… I promise. I will." Blue eyes met brown. They locked for a moment, before she added. "Pinky promise?"

Callie let out a soft chuckle, but still answered. "Pinky promise." They locked their pinkies and the blonde took a picture with her polaroid. « So that we'll both remember this. Forever. » They both signed on the white side line. What they didn't know was, they both still had this picture…

On that note, the blonde stared at her girlfriend's lips and branded their union with a kiss. Then her hands moved on her lower back, staring moving up under Callie's shirt and…

"Hey? Have you listened to me?" Tim brought her back into reality.

"Mhh… Yes. Yes, you were saying?" she brought out her dimples, hoping he wouldn't take note of what had just happened.

"I saw Kaleidopy yesterday before we went with the colleagues to that bar across the street and…" he started to bring up the setting.

"Don't call her that. You know she hates it." the blonde reminded him as she swatted his shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah anyway. So I met Callie and she invited us over. For dinner, sometime this week. Just gotta tell her when. Addison gave me her phone number so…" Tim continued his explanations.

But the blonde couldn't think any further. "Us? As in you and me?" She thought she would have to make the first step… so saying she was shocked was an understatement.

"Yeah. You know apparently people think of her as a goddess in ortho or something. And I gotta admit, I've had my first case with her yesterday, she's pretty great." The older brother tried to sooth the mood.

"You? And what… what else did she say?" Arizona asked, relieved to see that the Latina had nothing against her. She could have…

"Well, she didn't say much. Besides she has a daughter with Sloan, this plastic surgeon. He's probably already hit on you, he's funny, I'm sure you'll love him." Tim was laughing just to think about their jokes in the lobby from the day before, as they were waiting for their pears to arrive.

"She… what? Like, she had a baby?" The blonde's mouth was nearly on the floor by then.

"Yeah… apparently. I mean I don't really know, they didn't want to tell me everything, and I can understand why. It's her private life, right?" The blond man, seeing his sister not giving any answer but sinking deep in her thoughts, he added. "Well we should get going little sis. Come on, the Colonel wouldn't want both of his kids to be late at work."

On that, they laughed and headed to work. But Arizona couldn't help but wonder why would she want to see them again…

As Mark and Callie were standing in line for their coffee that same morning, they argued about whether Sofia should audition for Juilliard. Mark was all for giving this a shot, as Callie wanted Sofia to consider another option too. At least that's what Mark seemed to be.

"Listen Cal. I think she should give it a shot. Then she'll hold it against you- no, against us, her whole life." Callie knew Mark was right. But she couldn't help herself. Sofia had great grades, even greatest than half of the doctors in this hospital probably had in high school. That was why she couldn't help but think she had to consider going into college too.

"Good morning Doctors. What will you take today?" Bette asked with a warm smile as they ended finally to be in front of the coffee cart. Bette was the owner of this particular cart, which happened to be the one Mark and Callie usually bought their coffees to. She also happened to hook up with Callie sometimes, when they met up at Joe's and drink so much that they don't remember anything the next morning.

"The usual for me please", Mark shot her with a cocky grin. Callie rolled her eyes at his antics, and quickly added the same sentence as the tall man. After getting their drinks, and a wink for the brunette, she started to try for Mark to understand where she was coming from. "Look Mark, she's so smart. Like, she really is. And I know she… I know that if she takes that audition, she'll get in. She's so talented. So… let's just make her consider another college too. Please?" They both grabbed their coffee and thanked Bette for making it just the way they loved it.

Mark sighed, and took a glance at his pager. "Gotta go, 911. We'll do this then." Callie smiled from relief and mouthed a 'thank you'. The ortho goddess made her way back to her ward, when she noticed one of her friend waiting in front of the elevator. She couldn't hold in her laughter just seeing her face. The redhead looked like she had been woken up by a fire alarm and her whole body was on fire.

"'Morning, Adds. I suppose yesterday's been quite an evening, huh?" Just by the death glare Addison was shooting her, she knew it. It was kind of rude to laugh in front of her friend of her situation, but she just couldn't do otherwise.

"Don't laugh. I feel like my head's going to explode." Her colleague tried to hide her grin. As the elevator doors opened, and the two friends entered, one of their phone buzzed. "Oh, it's mine." Callie simply read her text and supposed that the text was from Tim. He told her that Arizona agreed to come, she just had to tell them when. The brunette's grin grew wilder only thinking of having her old, long unseen friends, coming over for dinner. I've missed them.

_Flashback_

It was one of those few rainy days in Miami. Timothy, Arizona, Callie and Aria were in the Torres' basement doing a movie marathon. Neither the older Latina nor the blonde could tell which movie was on-screen. They totally preferred to make out.

"Hmm babe, do you think they would mind if.." the blonde started kissing her way down Callie's neck "I took this somewhere…" coming back up, she took her girlfriend's earlobe between her teeth "any further?"

The brunette gasped just at her very initiating girlfriend, then nodded. She couldn't form her thoughts into words. She felt her blonde chuckling in her neck. She just gave me goosebumps.

Just as they were almost stepping the line, they felt a pillow thrown at them. The Latina couldn't help but laugh at Tim's actions, when Arizona threw the pillow right back to her brother. "Timothy Daniel Robbins, where are your manners!" From there began a very serious pillow fight between the four of them. « Listen to you, I could swear this was Mom talking. » Arizona feint a shocked face, as she smacked him behind his head. "That's not true!" The blonde pouted. Callie couldn't help the adorableness of her girlfriend. Her pouts were the cutest. Even though the blonde was all punk, with pink tie and die and piercings, she was such a kid at heart. The four of them ended up laughing on the floor on their ass.

"Who's hungry? Because I definitely am." Callie whipped out some tears then finally managed after some minutes of silent laughter. Seeing the wave of agreeing, they chose to order a pepperoni pizza, and a four cheese one.

Waiting on the delivery man, Aria and Tim decided to put on another movie. They absolutely wanted to see this all new horror movie that won so much prizes. However Arizona didn't want it at all, and begged her love to go straight to her bedroom. Callie, never able to say no to her puppy eyes and cutest pout, simply took half of each pizza for them and payed the man who delivered them before getting upstairs.

"We're… tired, so, well… Enjoy the night!" the blonde tried to explain herself. Callie giggled at Aria's face of disgust. "Gross, get a room" The younger Torres shot them.

"Actually, that's what we're gonna do, R…" Callie loved to tease her. The lovebirds bursted into laughter. The blonde took their pieces of pizza and made her way to Callie's room. Arizona let the pizza on the nightstand and took her girlfriend in an embrace. "Hmm I wanted to do this to you since the minute we got here." The blonde's grin simply grew wilder and wilder at the brunette's throaty chuckle. Callie pushed her back on the bed and started to make her way down on her body. She threw her shirt off and kissed every centimeter of flesh naked milky skin under her body. As Arizona's breathing became heavier and she lifted her chest up and down, Callie took off her pants and started making her way back up.

"Hmm… Callie, baby please. Hmm yes." Callie traced her fingers up the blonde's thighs and dropped kisses on her stomach. "Stop teasing me, hmm please, I want- hum I need you." She looked at her girlfriend in the eyes. "What do you need huh?" The brunette asked with a devilish grin on her face. "You baby, I need you so, so bad, holy…"

"Cal! Callie? Where were you?" The redhead suddenly made Callie jump. "Right here Adds, I'm just… right here." She replied with a slight smile. Callie was almost disappointed that she couldn't go back to Dreamland. If she was honest with herself, she would even go see Arizona. But she was so afraid that the blonde would be mad at her. Or even be in a relationship. At this thought, the brunette's smile faded away. How had I been so dumb not to think about this? She's always been perfect, I'm sure she's with someone…

"Well, I just wanted to tell you that I proposed Sofia to go shopping with me this afternoon. She told me she finished school at 3 and I only got two surgeries planned for this morning. And as you said my shrimp was feeling down a little…" Addison loved Sofia. She really did, you could see it in her eyes as she talked about her goddaughter. "Don't call her that, she hates it since she was born literally." Callie and Addison laughed at the reality of that statement. It was true, even back in their colleges years, as soon as Addison called baby Sofia her shrimp, she got all fussy and started crying.

"Yeah, yeah, anyway... I've got a cure for her, and it's called shopping. I'm sure she'll feel way better then!" Callie couldn't help rolling her eyes at her friend saying. But she didn't say anything. She was thankful her daughter had such a wonderful godmother. She truly was.

Later that day, Arizona and Amelia were eating lunch at the cafeteria. Arizona was totally freaking out. She didn't know why her brother told Callie she would come with him. Oh right, maybe because I never told him the entire truth… moron, Arizona.

"I don't understand why you make such a big deal out of it. Callie's someone really cool. Well she never invited new colleagues on their first day but… she's funny and good at her job." Amelia tried to reassure her friend. "I know this, Amy, I know all of this…" The blonde didn't want to explain it all yet. She just needed to freak out with someone for a little time.

"Hey Tim! Come over here, your sister's going crazy." Oh no Amy, why did you do this, no no… The blonde put her face in her hands. Tim took a seat across Amelia. He looked at his sister, and knew what the neuro surgeon was talking about right away. "Oh yeah. That's about Callie right?" Tim teased her little sister. He knew there was so much more behind their breakup eighteen years ago but he never really asked. At first he thought her sister would tell him when she was ready, then he counted on his friend to tell him but he seemed to have forgotten about it, until recently.

"I mean, I don't know what's freaking you out Ari. I know she has a daughter but she's really hot, so even if you're starting to have a crush on her or something, it's okay, really." Tim looked at his friend, confused. "Starting?" He asked, and looked at his little sister. Guilty. "Wait you didn't tell her?"

"Tell me what?" Amelia was now just as lost as Tim.

"I- I haven't had the chance yet..." The blonde tried to explain, but her brother cut her off. "Callie was her first." Arizona shot a hard glare at her brother, but he didn't seem to care, so he kept on. "We lived in Miami, the three of us. Cal and I were in the same class in high school, Ari was younger. Callie and I were basically best friends at the time. And when she had to move out of the state for her studies - she could have gone to Stanford but she chose Columbia, I don't know why - well those two broke up, and Arizona never really told me why. I know Callie was all for making it work, and suddenly they seemed to have changed their minds. I knew she was one of the best ortho surgeon, but I never really tried to keep in touch. I mean, none of us did."

Amelia was listening, her jaw on the floor. She could simply not believe what she was hearing. Callie and Arizona? No waay. "Noo? You two? Together?" She couldn't believe it. "Callie's so… not your type?" Back in Baltimore, Arizona always hooked up with tattooed, colored hair women. She said they had their own style, and she admired them for showing it to the world.

"Ohh, you don't know Calliope Torres if you say so." Timothy simply added on a wink.

Arizona couldn't help the grin that was adorning her lips. Tim was right. Nobody probably knew Callie how they did. The fan of reggae Callie. God, how the time flies.

Their little talk had been interrupted by some pager. "Mine!" Amelia left the room on that sentence. Arizona looked up in her brother's eyes, and right there, they shared the exact same thought. Arizona, you are so screwed…

Callie made her way to the cafeteria when she noticed two blond heads talking and laughing. Right then, she hesitated whether to take a sandwich and go right back to the ortho ward, or find a seat and actually having to talk to them. She finally took a salad and headed up right behind her. She was hoping to make it to her best friends' table without having to stop at the her older friends' one. Breathe, Torres.

"Hey! Cal, take a seat with us!" The trauma surgeon immediately greets. The Latina stopped suddenly her walk. Busted. "Heey.." She put on her face the best fake smile possible. As she took her seat down at their table, she locked her eyes with the blonde. It was the first contact they shared since the blonde arrived. Awkward silence.

"How are things, Kaleidopy?" Tim asked, breaking the silence. He knew Callie hated this nickname, that was why he used it almost all of the freaking time.

"Tim, I missed you too" She replied ironically. "Stop with the freaking nickname, by the way." Tim saw the grin the Latina was trying to hide. He was proud to still make her laugh all these years after with a stupid nickname.

"Hey Calliope, how are things going? » The blonde tried to stay polite, make small talk. Too awkward.

"Things are… great, I guess." The Latina chuckled. Definitely awkward.

Tim being the man he'd always been, he finally put everyone at ease. The three of them fell back into their old habits, talking about anything and joking about everything. Tim was telling some story about Arizona's first internship day. Both were laughing so hard that tears started to fall from their eyes. The brunette couldn't help but feel her heart sink at this sight. It only remembered her more and more of her sister. Aria and Callie used to be so in sync, just like twins. People always thought they were, actually. Expect Aria was younger and slightly smaller than her sister. But seeing from the outside, you couldn't say.

"So, talking about brothers and sisters, how is R? It's been so long since I heard from her! Like, longer than you." Tim said with a big grin. The Latina didn't want to break the mood in the middle of the hospital, so she decided that she would explain them later. "How about, tomorrow night, you come over at my place and… we'll discuss all of it?" She tried to look happy and smile. But the two others saw that something was off.

"Yeah, well, I'm okay for this! Text me when and where, I'll tell Ari." Tim agreed. Callie looked back at the blonde and waited for her to nod.

"Why don't I give you my cell too, Calliope?" She proposed with one of her killer wink and dimpled smile. Callie simply handed it to her. "Perfect." Arizona hoped that Callie would text her right away. So she would have hers too. Arizona, you have someone in your life, haven't you?

« And… you have a daughter now, right? » Timothy was so curious, he wanted to know her. He was sure she'd looked so much like her mother. He tried to sound not too intrusive, and thought he kind of succeeded.

"Yes! Oh yes, I'm so lucky, she's really the best daughter I could have asked for. And, well, she didn't have the easiest childhood but… now we're in a better place. She's actually going to college next year and -" She started to ramble.

"Wait? You said college? How old is she?" Arizona was now totally confused. She had imagined the ortho surgeon with a toddler… not a teenage girl.

"Uhm… She's sixteen now. Why? You- you didn't know?" Callie knew that this didn't smell good, like at all.

"Um, when did you tell me, already? Oh, well you didn't, so yeah, how could I know?." _Ouch, Torres. Definitely in the dog house_. The blonde was getting mad.

"You never asked.." This was getting better and better to watch for Tim. As Arizona seemed to totally lose it, Callie was so calm. _Too_ calm.

"Anyway." The blonde just brushed it off. She didn't want to be angry, she had learned to control her anger over the years and she was not going to let one little run in just throw it all off. When she just entered high school, her dad had to teach her how to not let herself submerged by all her emotions. She had had big troubles because of them in the past, and she wouldn't let it happen again.

At the sound of one of their pager, the there of them felt relieved. Finally. It was Callie's. « Is Wednesday at 7 okay for you both? If you can't come just.. text me. » The brunette didn't let them the chance to even nod. She ran to the pit, as if she simply wanted to run away from them.


	3. Chapter 3

It was already half past six and Callie was as late as ever. She was finishing her ricotta and was suddenly all happy she had made her famous Tiramisu the morning. She knew Arizona loved when she cooked Italian. Callie had all learned from one of their maid back there in Miami. Giovanna was probably their oldest maid, and was still working for them after all these years. Callie had always seen her as a grandma she never had more than as a maid or anything. She worked for the Torres' even before Callie was born. The young Latina loved spending some quality time in the kitchen. And today she was even more thankful she had. Callie was always sitting a little aback, but was also glad to help if she could. Even when Aria was born, and was fooling around the house, Callie loved staying in the kitchen with Giovanna, cooking or baking.

She quickly went into her bedroom and changed into some more acceptable outfit. She opted for a dark skinny jeans and a red shirt that fell on her left shoulder, letting almost visible the tattoo she got on her seventieth birthday. She let her long curly hair falling on her shoulders. After a touch of make up, she checked twice if everything was in order and went saying goodnight to Mark and Sofia across the hall. She was so anxious, she hoped this wouldn't go too bad.

As she was twitching, sitting by the breakfast bar, she heard two laughs mesmerizing. They are here. Shit. What do I do?

She couldn't think any longer, as a strong hand knocked three times on the door. She took a second to collect herself, then walked right up to the door. She greeted them with her mega watt signature smile, and let them in. The beginning of the evening passed by, and small talk about their separated past was the main topic of the night. Callie was scared they'd come up with Aria again, or even with their broking up. She never talked about it. Never.

 _Flashback_ :

Callie was in her freshman year in Columbia. The building of the college was everything she'd expected, but she never thought all of this would be so hard. Sure, she was working hard because she wanted to be one of the best, but she'd also always been advantaged in her study life. Callie almost never went to drink in the city alone nor with friends. But that night, she did. She wished she could take it all back. But she knew she couldn't. She felt so guilty, it haunted her. She had to tell Arizona, but she didn't want to tell her on the phone. She was glad she'd finally come back home in Miami in less than a few hours.

On the plane, Callie couldn't find any better way to tell her blonde what had happened. She had therefor decided she would tell it, then try to explain it. It was better than speaking for hours without telling anything.

Callie simply dropped her bag back at her parents' before stepping in front of the blonde's parents' house. _How will I tell her it all? How will she react?_

Callie breathed out, then pressed on the ring button. It was Barbara Robbins who opened her the door. "Oh Callie! How are you sweetie? Arizona and Timothy will be so happy to see you." She told the younger woman as she hugged her. "You good?" She looked concerned for the girl who was like her second daughter. Callie had undone her hair, letting long raven hair fall instead of dreadlocks she was used to wear since high school, and had decided she wouldn't expose herself like that anymore. She wasn't wearing any make up either. She looked really tired, the bags under her eyes were almost black. "Yes, Mama Robbins. Can I talk to Arizona please?" The older woman made her walk in the house, and nodded along. "Yes, yes, of course. Arizona! Come downstairs, someone's here for you." They heard the blonde sighed, and both women chuckled. Callie had really missed her. I wish she understand.

"Oh my god, Calliope?" Her blonde almost hadn't recognized her. She jumped the last few stairs she had to climb down, and hugged her so tight Callie felt herself almost glued back together. _Almost_.

"What happened to you, baby.." The blonde whispered more to herself than her girlfriend. She looked truly concerned, which made the Latina want to cry. She had to stay strong though. If she wanted to explain it all, she couldn't cry now. "We should talk." The blonde put some hair back behind her girlfriend's ear and agreed. "Sure, babe." She turned back to her mother and told her she was going out with Callie.

Once they had arrived near their bench in the park next to their old high school, Callie decided to simply announce it blankly. "I am pregnant."

Fortunately, the blonde was already seated. "Wh- what? You- you… you want to keep it? God, Callie you want to keep it? You-… you cheated on me? With a man? God, Callie, what- why?" The blonde was shocked. She'd expected everything but this.

"I- I didn't cheat on you Arizona. You have to believe me…" She wiped off a tear that started to fall from the corner of her eye. "I won't keep it. I- I'm sorry…" The Latina looked back up at her girlfriend. _Ex-girlfriend_? She didn't know anymore. "I can't do this without you… I-… I will explain it all." But the blonde had already started to walk away. The Latina shouted her name. "What?" She managed to get out from her tears harshly. "Are… are we?" Callie couldn't even say it. « Are we still a thing? »

"How could we…" Then she ran away.

Callie was left crying alone, in this park. She then slowly made her way back to her parents' and flew right back to New York that same day. She had learned some weeks later that Arizona was in another relationship with some cheerleader she knew really well. Lauren Boswell.

"So Callie, why did you change your look?" Tim asked jokingly.

"It's been years Timmy. Since I've been pregnant the first time actually." Arizona looked at her with big scared eyes. The blonde was mouthing her a no. "You- you didn't know?"

"No… I didn't. She never told me actually." Timothy looked back at his sister; guilty. The Latina sighed. "I'm sorry." She couldn't manage more. It was still hard to talk about it after all those years.

"Calliope cheated on me during her first semester at Columbia." The blonde was still angry at her. You could hear it in her voice. Callie couldn't simply believe what she had just heard. I should be the one angry! Not her.

"What? You seriously thought for one second that I wanted a- a- a man I didn't even know putting his- his- his-" Arizona's eyes went wide with realization.

"But. You had Sofia. Mark is your friend. Your hot, hot friend. Don't get all victimized." She felt guilty as soon as the words went out of her mouth. She couldn't hold them in though. "Just… that's why I'm not telling anything. Sofia's Mark's daughter, but I had her almost a years after I had to take this abortion. I knew it was maybe my only chance to get pregnant. You… You don't get to come here and be all judging me. I- I…" Tears were threatening to fall from Callie's eyes.

Suddenly, the door went wide opened. Tim was the first one to take a look at the smaller Latina. "Oh. Sorry Mami. I- I was just looking for my Asylum DVDs. Not disturbing more." She said on a smile. "Are you guys seriously watching American Horror Story without me?" The brunette kissed her daughter's cheek and fainted a sad look. "Sorry! Goodnight Mami." Callie couldn't help but smile wild at her daughter. She genuinely thought Sofia was the greatest person in her life, the best she could have asked for.

"She's just as beautiful as you Cal. You've done an amazing job, seriously." Tim, who wasn't used to feel awkward but felt that way before, used Sofia's apparition to change the subject of the evening. He hoped the two could make up and he secretly even thought they could end back together. But for now, he could definitely use some help to get out of this too awkward situation.

"I know…" she whispered as she got up and started to put everything on the table. "Feel free to make your way to the table, everything's ready." The three of them ate in silence at first. Tim started to joke again, and his sister followed him. However Callie was hurt. Of course she knew that she hadn't explain it to Arizona so there was no chance she could knew it. Hell, she hadn't told anyone, not even Mark and Addison. Yet she couldn't help but think her girlfriend at the time knew her well enough to not expect something like this. She was not a cheater. She could be stubborn, overreacting, but not cheating.

One of their pager rang. It was Tim's. "Sorry, I got to go… You know the drill. Try not to kill each other." He joked and left. That was all. The two of them would now have to actually talk.

"Sorry I was such a bad host. Hope you'll come over soon again, tho. Bye!" After Tim bid them goodbye, the Latina didn't know if being with Arizona alone would end up great but well… They had to do it.

"So, Tiramisu?" She asked once the blond man was out of ears.

She saw Arizona's face lit up at this memory. "God, you still have Giovanna's secret recipe? It's so delicious. How is she by the way?" Arizona was excited to eat some again. It had been years she tried to taste some but none was as good as Giovanna's. What if we tried not to hold it against each other for now?

"She's good, she's good. She asks about you and Tim a lot. You were my only friends at the time." They both smiled at the memories. It was true, Callie never had a lot of friends, but Tim and Arizona were true friends to her. If someone had told her at the time that they wouldn't be speaking for ten years more, she would have laughed at them.

Hours flew by, and both of them quickly fell back into their old routine: joking, teasing, flirting, laughing. Arizona was still mesmerized by the brunette's laugh. How could one laugh and be that sexy? They both were sitting on the couch and were catching up on the old times. The peds surgeon put a hand viciously on the ortho surgeon's thigh. She was playing with the fire but her body's was burning with lust. Damn it. Brown eyes softened and alcohol took over their self control. "Hun, don't.." But the brunette didn't have the time to even finish her thoughts. Pink lips uncontrollably crashed on cherry lips. They both felt knots in their stomachs fly and become butterflies. Milky hands lock in raven locks, while tanned hands lock in blonde hair. It all seems natural, yet different. What are we doing…

*BIP BIP BIP BIP*

Callie was blindly looking for her alarm clock. Damn thing. It was 5.30 am and the ortho surgeon had a little over two hours before her first surgery of the day. She quickly hopped in her shower, and secretly hoped that the memories of her night with a certain blonde were true, and that she didn't dream.

After her shower, Callie started making breakfast for her daughter and best friend. She knew they would come her at 6.45am, half yelling at each other for not having bought eggs or told them to. But she wouldn't have it any other way. She loved the family they had come to form within the years and was even proud of them.

She started to cook blueberries pancakes. She wouldn't do it every day but she knew how much her daughter loved them and today was a good day. She was happy and would make her family happy. So once everything was out of the fridge, she put on the radio and started to cook while dancing around her kitchen.

As soon as Could you be loved started to pass, she put on the volume even louder and started to sing. Her neighbors would probably call her crazy for singing some Bob Marley's song at half past six in the morning, but truthfully, she didn't care.

_Could you be loved, and be loved?_

_Could you be loved, and be loved?_

_Don't let them fool you_

_Or even try to school you, oh no_

_We've got a mine of our own_

_So go to hell if what you're thinking is not right_

_Love would never let us alone_

_In the darkness there must come out the light_

_Could you be loved, and be loved?_

_Could you be loved, and be loved?_

_The road of life is rocky_

_And you may stumble too_

_So while you point your fingers_

_Someone else is judging you_

_Could you be, could you be, could you be loved?_

_Could you be, could you be loved?_

_Could you be, could you be, could you be loved?_

_Could you be, could you be loved?_

_Don't let them change you_

_Or even rearrange you, oh no!_

_We've got a life to live_

_They say only, only_

_Only the fittest of the fittest shall survive_

_Stay alive eh!_

_Could you be loved and be loved?_

_Could you be loved, oh no, and be loved?_

_You ain't gonna miss your water_

_Until your well runs dry_

_No matter how you treat him_

_The man will never be satisfied_

_Could you be, could you be, could you be loved?_

_Could you be, could you be loved?_

_Say something, say something..._

Sofia was now waiting behind the breakfast bar and looking at her mother like she was some weird stranger, as Mark couldn't help but laugh. "I didn't know you still had it in you, Torres."

"GOD MARK!" The Latina yelps, taken by surprise. "I think I might have died for a second." She states, putting a hand on her heart in attempt to calm her strong heart beat.

"A kiss for the drama Queen. " Sofia chuckled as she saw her Dad kiss her Mom's cheek and her mother roll her eyes. She loved her family so much. "You made blueberry pancakes!" Mark exclaimed, clapping his hands like a four years old. "I knew you would both love it, it's been weeks since I made some." Callie was truly happy and she didn't even know why. Well, maybe she knew, but she wouldn't admit it. She was happy, but she was also scared as hell.

"You know, you should get laid more often Cal." Mark added with a smirk.

"Wait, what?" Callie was shocked he even mentioned that in front of Sofia. Sofia, who appeared to find this situation quite funny. "I did not 'get laid'." She was going red and redder as the seconds ticked by. When her best friend wouldn't get his grin off of his face, she couldn't help but smack him behind the head. « Shut up, manwhore. » Callie emphasized on the manwhore. Although she regretted it as soon as she had said it.

"Rude." He played offended, but he was actually so glad his best friend found someone who could make her that happy. Even without getting her laid.

They finished their breakfast in silence, and slowly headed out. Each of them had this feeling of safety, knowing that even if they had nobody, they'd have each other, and that was called family.

Later that day, Arizona was at the coffee cart, buying herself the third cup of coffee of her day. She couldn't believe how addicted she'd become to caffeine. With way too much of sugar added in her tumbler, she was making her way to her ward.

"Sweet Lord you have caffeine! Gimme some, sis." Timothy took a sip, and couldn't help the look of disgust that popped up on his face.

"I knew you'd give it right back to me, bro." Arizona took her tumbler back, appreciating every drop of her precious beverage.

"How do you drink this? It's not even coffee at this point, it's sugar-milk with tiny drops of coffee! That's… It's going to waste, Phoenix." Timothy was truly shocked by the taste of it. "You're gonna be sugar high, I'm telling you."

Arizona couldn't help but smile at his comment. "You sound so much like Mom, Tim."

"No way!" They shared a laugh and entered the elevator up to their respective floors.

"I'm so exhausted. I haven't been able to catch more than two hours straight of sleep tonight. How was the rest of the dinner, by the way? Have you been able to make it up?" Tim was anxious about this situation. He felt guilty for having to leave her sister to a dinner she didn't even want to attempt at the first place. He had only convinced her to go by telling her he'd be with her all along. But she knew what work was, she knew how it was. So he knew she'd understand he didn't have the choice to do so, however he couldn't help feeling that way.

Arizona, being the horrible liar that she was, went red. "Hum, yes, we… we ate and then I left." And that was true. It wasn't lying, as they didn't make anything more than this. _Okay, we kissed, but that is all_.

Timothy smirked at her little sister. "You totally got laid."

"I did not! Timothy, shut the fuck up." She punched his biceps.

"Oh for the love of God, I know you. _Both_. You've had sex. I know this look, plus the amount of sugar you just put in this coffee cup. You totally been laid." Tim was starting his demonstration, like he was in some sort of math class or something, and there was no way to stop his rambling.

"Okay fine! We kissed. That's all. Then I left. But we had decided it'd be better not to just fuck without even getting to know each other again. I mean, we're total different persons than when we were together, Tim. And, there's Leah." She finished in a whisper, like it was some dirty secret of hers.

"Who?" He gave his best fake smile. Tim hated Leah. She was only hanging out with his sister because she was an Attending, Head of Peds, brilliant surgeon. She got all attached in not even a week time.

"Come on, you know I can't just tell her to get the fuck out of my life. She's been her through a lot of hard time for me." Maybe Arizona didn't love her, but she sure as hell wasn't making her feeling the way she felt with Lauren. She was going to go and be honest with her, even if that meant she couldn't see Callie in the next week or so. She wouldn't be able to make someone feel as horrible as she felt after Lauren left her in an airport.

"Actually, you can. You've got to stop worrying about everyone else's feeling, and care more about yourself's. It's not like you loved her or something. I mean, maybe the sex was great, I don't know…. but" Arizona cut him off, and for the second time she slapped him in the arm.

Seeing the face of surprise on his sister, Tim couldn't hold in his laughter. "What? I'm only speaking the truth. There's a reason you still saw her last week." On that, the elevator rang, saying Tim was arrived. He simply kissed her on the cheek, and brushed off her hair.

The blonde tried to look mad at her brother, but she just couldn't. She loved him way too much for that.

"Wait!" Some man yelled for the elevator, and pushed his fist between the elevator doors. Arizona held the doors open, smiling at the man who entered. Her smile even grew wilder at the woman following him. A beautiful Latina she knew only too well.

"Thanks, Blondie." Arizona decided to ignore the man who she thought was utterly rude. I don't even know him.

"Good morning, Calliope." She smiled at the Latina. She had brushed her hair up in a high ponytail that showed her neck to the world. _Oh, I wish I could kiss that neck_ … and do thousands of other things. As the Latina rested her back against the wall, she glared at her best friend. "Shut up, Sloan. Let her alone." Mark couldn't help but chuckle at his realization. "So, you're Robbins number two, right? Mark Sloan, Head of Plastics." He said while offering his hand to the blonde. Callie rolled her eyes at her best friend, and Arizona simply shook his hand. "Arizona Robbins, and please, I'm the Robbins number one."

Callie raised her eyebrow, and started chuckling at their antics.

*DING*

"Well, I gotta go. See you later, then. Calliope." She acknowledged her on her way.

Mark caught his best friend staring at the blonde's ass. He bumped her left side. "So? It's her, isn't it?" Callie simply nodded at him. "You go, Torres. You've some serious stuff to talk 'bout, with Bette and Blondie."

The Latina sighed. Mark was totally right, and she knew it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Callie** : Hey, think we need to talk. Can we?

 **Arizona** : Of course. Come over tomorrow at my place when you're free.

 **Callie** : Perf. I'm off at 5pm

 **Arizona:** Have the whole day off. Just come by when you can. xx

With this, the brunette simply headed to her day. Case after case, patient after patient, surgery after surgery, scrubbing in and scrubbing out. Today was definitely an exhausting and tiring day, was what the brunette thought as she scrubbed out of her last surgery of the day at past eight o'clock. Two cars had crashed in front of the hospital, leaving three young adults with multiple fractures. Callie had to be the only ortho surgeon on-call that day.

As she was in front of the coffee machine, she saw a shadow she wouldn't have wanted to see. But, as Mark had said, she had 'some serious stuff to talk 'bout'. She couldn't believe the man was giving out advice about relationships when he couldn't even say out loud he was in love with Lexie Grey. Anyhow, he was right. And even though Callie wouldn't admit it to Mark, he always gave her by far the best advices.

"Doctor Torres…" Bette came out of nowhere. However Callie didn't even jump, because the tone Bette used was low and husky. It gave her goosebumps. The brunette's sweet voice still made her feel wanted, and beautiful. And that was all she wanted at the time. But not anymore. Now... she could see herself getting more. Focus, Callie. Deep breaths.

"Hey Bette." After she turned around, facing her, she gave her a tight smile. "We… we should talk." Callie looked up into her eyes, and took a moment to see the woman before her eyes. Bette was tall, and had curly brown hair falling mid-shoulder. She was slim, sexy; most of people would pay to have such a good looking sex-friend. The ortho surgeon had caught herself staring into those green eyes more than once. Sure, they weren't the blue ones full of sparkles that were Arizona's, but they were what Callie considered beautiful eyes.

"I know what you're going to say, Cal, and I can only agree. I mean, I understand, your daughter is almost a grown woman, you need someone to settle down with- some- something I don't want. So you think we shouldn't see each other anymore. And that's fine with me. Really. As long as we can keep in touch and stay friends, it's perfect with me."

Callie let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. "You know me so well…"

"That I can only agree." The smaller brunette added before giving her a wink. Callie couldn't help but feel herself slightly blushing. "You totally deserve to settle down with someone too, Bette." It was honest, and it was coming directly out of her heart.

"You've got such a big heart Cal. You need to stop worrying other people's feelings more than yours!" Bette left without more than a kiss on the ortho surgeon's cheek. Callie felt her heart exploding in her chest. As much as Callie knew that Bette wouldn't ever hold the space Arizona did in her heart, she really, really liked Bette. She had to remember to swallow, before going back to fulfilling some charts at the nurses' deck in her ward. This should be the dinosaur's work.

About two hours later, Callie was stepping into her apartment and felt even more tired, even more exhausted. This day finally came to an end, and she couldn't deny that she was more than happy to be at home. She was looking for a wine glass when someone knocked at her door. She knew it would be Mark or Sofia- I mean who else would it be, so she just took the open bottle of white wine with her and after a really, really big sip of the beverage, she opened the door.

"Since when do you even knock—" The brunette didn't even look up, knowing who it was and why he was talking to her.

"Yeah well Sofia is on the phone with her ' _friend_ '— " He didn't forget the air-quotes, showing his disapproving. "and I was alone, I made a delicious meal, you sounded so upset and —" He was definitely in rambling mode.

"How do you know that I sound upset?" The Latina cut him off, seriously wondering how her friend could know this without even seeing her face.

"The way you slammed the door." He shrugged, like that was the most oblivious thing ever.

"Obviously." She deadpanned, and raised her eyebrow. "How dumb of me, I slammed the door a bit too loud."

"Yeah, well, just come I'll warm you up some leftovers and you can talk to me. You know you can tell me _eeeverything_ …" He smirked.

Callie couldn't help but find herself relieved. She didn't want to spend the evening alone- only one more. "Bring that bottle of wine, Torres!" He didn't ask, it was more like a demand, before entering back into his place. Callie chuckled and took another sip before following her best friend.

The next morning, Arizona woke up at the crack of dawn. She couldn't help but freak out at the thought of the big talk coming between Callie and her. The talk she'd been postponing for almost twenty years. Considering the new situation -Callie had Sofia, she had Leah…- Arizona was feeling so, so lost. Even though she might have a perfectly fine and beautiful family life she knew Callie didn't have, her love life was the total opposite. Sure, right then, she had an easy relationship that she couldn't even define yet, over the past eighteen years, she had a lot, lot of heartbreaks and love pain.

So Arizona ran. She ran to push her thoughts in the back of her mind. Usually, this could work even with the loudest thoughts. But not that day. She didn't even know why she felt that strongly about the brunette. They hadn't seen each other for longer than they even were together. It made no sense. They had been together for almost three years, and yet it had been more than fifteen years since she last saw her ex's face. However she couldn't help but feel like Calliope had the most beautiful face ever. She had never specifically felt attracted to what you'd call a mother. She even thought that most of the men who were were creepy. However when she saw Callie in her slim jeans and red top revealing an unfair part of her cleavage -always teasing, never over showing, she felt her jaw dropping and herself drooling. In all honesty the Latina had always been curvy and sexy, but this had reached an all new level. She was drop dead gorgeous. And self confident, more than at certain times of her life. Self confidence looked good on her. Arizona felt bad for kissing her while she was in some sort of a relationship. Callie deserved better. She felt bad for Leah who liked her so, so much. Way too much.

And then, there was this thing. Callie never cheated on her. Callie was all but a cheater. Deep down the blonde always knew she wouldn't do something like that. But it was easier to hate her, in hope to forget her. And Lauren had always helped Arizona in that way- to hate on the brunette. Arizona couldn't picture exactly what Callie tried to tell her the night before. She also saw abused women in the ER when she was an intern, and she just— she couldn't picture it.

From her experience, they always were weak, or extremely proud and strong. She didn't think Callie to be weak, at least not before it happened, so…she probably was too strong. And definitely too proud. « Why didn't she just talk to me then… » Arizona started feeling guilty. She knew she shouldn't, but couldn't do it otherwise. « She didn't because you simply ran away….moron, Arizona. » She sighed and looked around her. She was in a place she'd never been yet. In the week she'd arrived at Seattle, she had already claimed the small forest near the hospital to be her jogging place. She loved it, the trees gave an impression of hugeness. The oaks were so tall, she couldn't even spot the sun sometimes. And most of the joggers were her coworkers, so it only ended up being full of advantages.

Then Arizona thought that, even tho she ran away, the brunette never did a thing to stop her. Sure, she'd say a weak « Arizona… », but it was like she already gave up on her. Maybe, only maybe, she didn't want to overcome it with her. Maybe she felt better talking about this with Mark, or Addison.

Stop it. It's not true and you know it.

 _Flashback_ :

Even at the time, when Callie and Arizona were talking over the phone, Arizona couldn't help herself but feel jealous of Mark. Addison, too, in a more acceptable way. But when it came to Mark, she had a feeling coming from deep down in her guts. It made her shiver just thinking about it.

 **Callie** : Hey babe. How was your first day of senior year, huh?

Arizona felt her heart melt at the voice of her lover on the other end and all her fears faded away. They both loved each other deeply. They would be okay.

 **Arizona** : It was okay I guess. I'm in Lauren's class—you know. Tall, slim, dirty blonde, head cheerleader.

 **Callie** : Uh yes I see.

She tried to make it sound like she didn't care, even though Arizona knew exactly how her girlfriend had to be feeling at the moment.

 **Arizona** : Yes so I'm with her, and she was so annoying all day, but well, you know her. Always needing to be noticed, the blonde sighed deeply. And you, how is your first semester so far?

 **Callie** : I have so so much homework to give back, quizzes to learn for, papers to write, without even talking about exam to revise for. I'm surrounded with textbooks but I'm good. Don't worry about me, AZ'.

Arizona smiled at the mention of her nickname. She missed her so much, and it hadn't even been a full month yet. They continued light chatting for an hour or so, before Arizona had to excuse herself.

 **Arizona** : Mom's calling me for dinner. I gotta go. What are you going to do tonight, babe?

 **Callie** : Oh nothing much. Love you so much Sweets.

A yell had been heard from the Latina's end by Arizona.

 **Arizona** : Who is it? Who's calling my girlfriend ' _Bomba Latina_ '?

Arizona blurted it out more harshly than she intended to. But it was normal. She wouldn't admit it at the time, but she was deadly jealous. Who was he, to call her like that. She's mine, back off dude.

 **Callie** : Oh that? It's just Mark. He's a great friend.

Callie let out a throaty chuckle before kissing her friend on the cheek. Arizona couldn't help the face of disgust she made as she heard the sound of it.

 **Arizona** : Well, I definitely should go. Bye Calliope.

 **Callie** : Love you Sweets.

 **Arizona** : Yeah, me too.

And with that, the line went dead.

By the time Arizona was out of her thoughts, she was standing in front of her apartment door. She looked out for her keys, and simply headed straight to her bathroom. She needed to wash her head out of all her thoughts, and a hot shower was what she needed the most.

Once she headed out of her bathroom, Arizona noticed a change in the atmosphere itself of the apartment. She felt a shiver run down her neck, arms and back down her legs. She was relieved when she saw the tall blonde pouring herself a coffee pot.

"You scared the shit outta' me. Gosh. Don't ever do that again." The blonde was running a hand in her hair while trying to catch her breathe.

"Sorry, where you expecting anyone beside me anyway?" Leah replied playfully. As Arizona didn't answer she looked up, catching her glaze.

"Kinda." She shrugged finally in response.

"Oh okay. Hum, just hoped we could grab something to eat together. You know, since I did night shift and I just got off and — and it's been hell, maybe we could take breakfast or something. Unless you already ate..." Leah was rambling.

"It's okay. I'm not expecting Callie until this afternoon. Come, we'll just make some pancakes." Arizona smiled gently at Leah. And there, she realized she needn't much to be happy. Right then she was happy. In a way she had hardly ever been. Sure, she'd been happier in her high school years but that was because she was still young, fresh, bold, innocent. She couldn't be that happy anymore. And as she was listening to Leah narrowing her first days as an intern in surgery, she totally felt so insecure. She didn't know where life headed her, and she felt the need to stay in control of her life. And the only way to stay the master of your destiny, is to take the reins between your own hands.

Callie's day finally touched its end, and she was changing out of her scrubs in the attending locker room. She hadn't thought about the talk all day. She'd been obviously too busy with work. A young man who was twenty one years old, had had himself crashed against a wall of bricks, to post it on his vlog to collect the biggest amount of views on one of his video. The worst was, he even wanted to film the operation. He ended up crying like a baby as soon as Owen touched his dislocated hip.

And there she was, in front of the address Arizona had sent her earlier in the morning. She took a huge breathe, before the blonde buzzed her up. She didn't know what happened to her, but she actually felt like she could talk with Arizona about this. Like she would listen without judging her or pitying her. She truly felt like the blonde open up to her too. She felt a connection between the two of them, and it was so strong, she was sure Arizona felt it too. I mean, how not to?

But a blonde haired woman opened the door. And tall, skinny, blue eyed woman she thought she had already seen somewhere. "Hum, sorry. I— I must be mistaken. I was looking for Arizona but..." Now she was just very confused and didn't know what to say.

"Oh yes. Come on in, Calliope." She heard Arizona saying as she was exiting what she assumed was her bedroom. Their bedroom.


	5. Chapter 5

Callie felt her heart sinking. Of course, Arizona had moved on with her life. Of course, Arizona was with another woman in their apartment. Of course, of course, of course…

Her hands were shaking and all but suddenly, she wasn't so sure about opening up. She suddenly realized this was exactly why she never had a relationship. Exposure. You're ready to tell someone who you think is special everything, just to finally find out they're happy, and without you, while you're miserable, and alone. Deep breathes, Torres. You got this. It's not your first time. You won't panic. You simply won't.

"Oh— Doc- Doctor Torres. I'm going to go, anyway. Have a nice evening- hum, both of you." Leah quickly grabbed her bag and headed out. She wanted to get out of there ASAP.

"Uhm, I'm sorry, do we know each other?" Callie knew they did, but couldn't exactly remember where from.

"Yes, I'm Leah, Leah Murphy. Intern, surgery. First week…" She tried with a smile.

"Oh, yes, of course, sorry. Guess you didn't come in ortho yet." She deadpanned knowingly. No one liked ortho, like ever. She didn't even try to bring interns to like it anymore. She just let it go.

"Guess right…" She mumbled under her breath, while closing the door behind her.

After a few minutes of a more than awkward silence, Arizona started regretting letting Leah stay at her place. Because what started out like the most innocent breakfast between friends, turned out into a lunch in her bedroom. And Callie didn't deserve that. She didn't deserve to learn it like that. But what was done couldn't be undone. So she waited for the brunette to explode. Instead, when Callie looked up into her blue eyes, she saw nothing but emptiness in those usually full of emotions brown orbits. She wanted nothing more than wipe away the tears that threatened to fall, but didn't feel like she had the right to do so. So she waited. And waited. And waited…

"So, uhm, you're in a relationship? That's— that's good. I'm happy for you." Callie was heading back to the door, trying in vain to contain the waves of tears threatening to fall. However, right then, she felt relieved. Relieved that Arizona had someone in her life. Relieved she could be simply another human being. Relieved that Arizona wouldn't need her in her life. Relieved she had a life fulfilled without a brunette. That's when she heard his voice. Still, after almost two decades, she could hear his voice tell her: you're alone, no one can hear you.

And worst of all, he was right. In her life, she was alone. All of the time. Mark had Lexie, now. He wouldn't be here for her forever. She knew that. But right then, she wished, oh so much, that he'd be here. Just like he had, that night of November.

"Wait, Calliope… You wanted to talk and… In all honesty I think that we should too." Arizona took her by the left wrist. The same wrist supposed to hold their matching tattoos. They had done it for their years anniversary, and god knows the troubles they'd had with their parents for it. But they both loved it, never had one of them even considered removing it. She just wanted to hold her back. And without caring much, she returned the brunette's wrist. That's how she saw it. A big scar, almost invisible for the people who wouldn't know this tattoo. But Arizona did. She had the exact same one, except for the scar that was taken place there, under her eyes.

She simply couldn't take her eyes off the scar. "Did you…" She didn't need to finish her sentence. The look of guilt on Callie's face was the only response she needed. She wasn't only shocked, she was also sad. Her heart was aching for that woman she'd loved since their eyes first met. "H- How…"

Arizona let go of Callie's hand only to cover her mouth with them. "Obviously, no one is ready for this talk." Callie said, sorrowfully. She regretted having get her hopes all up, once again. She'd hoped too much in her life. She had enough of it. She simply walked to the door, and waited for it to be closed to let herself down on the floor against it. She broke down, trying to cover her sobs the most quietly possible. But she'd heard Arizona on the other side of the door, and she knew that it wasn't how she should have discovered it. She would have wanted her to say it. Sure, she didn't know how to, but she wanted to. However she couldn't help feeling like maybe, it was best that way, for both of them. She'd never had to explain herself to anyone, not even Mark when he found her that night or Addison when she was sitting next to her for hours in that hospital.

Almost half an hour later, she decided she had to ride back home. She didn't know how, but she ended before her apartment door, behind which erupted cheerful laughters and teasings. She quickly headed into her room, pretexting a headache and shutting herself off. I won't let him. This time, I won't let him have me, she couldn't help but saying over and over again, rocking herself to sleep, silently praying God or anyone up there to not make her re-suffer this moment again in another nightmare. How wrong of me…

It had been a little over a week since Arizona had seen Callie in her apartment. She wasn't worried at first, she knew she had Sofia, and Mark, and Addison, and she had even heard some nurses saying she was sleeping with a Betty or Brittany or something like that, but she just couldn't help it. Sure, at work, she'd tried to avoid the Latina by spending her lunch times in her office, and trying not to consult in the ER that much. She was ready to give up most of emergency cases just to avoid her. Pathetic.

She had succeeded for a week, saying she needed to fulfill her paperwork, which was part of the truth. She had only arrived in Seattle and a lot of extra work was given to a Head of Department, especially in the first weeks. But that day, she couldn't turn down the page. All the peds surgeon were extremely busy, and a lot of consults were needed in the ER. So she slowly made her way to the pit, silently praying for her case to turn out good. She needed to save a tiny human's life, today more than any day.

Unfortunately for the blonde, she noticed a man she wouldn't have liked to see for a few days more. But she wasn't going to avoid him too. That's why she simply stood next to him, patiently waiting for the elevator to arrive.

"Morning, Doctor Sloan." She smiled politely. Maybe was she only new to Seattle but she was determined to stay in good terms with all of the doctors, for as long as she could. They all seemed like a big family, and right then, she felt like she had touched the puppy wolf and her Mama was ready to bite her. Sloan didn't even respond. He knew if he did, he would say something rude to the new peds surgeon. And as much as he wanted to let it out on her, she didn't deserve it and he knew it. So he just kept his mouth shut, until the elevator doors opened in front of them. Everyone who was in stepped out, so Arizona and Mark were once more alone in it. _Awkward_.

"So, hum, how's Callie doing?" The blonde figured, since he was already not talking to her, it couldn't get any worse, could it? How wrong was I…

"How is she? How is Callie? You saw her, then she pretends to be sick for a week, and you're asking me how she is?" Mark's voice was getting louder and louder. He couldn't help it. He knew his friend didn't need him to be overprotective, she was strong enough for her and her daughter, but hearing Arizona made all of his concern for his best friend turn into anger at the blonde. He shouldn't have, but…

"I'm gonna tell you this." He emphasized on the last word. "Callie will be okay, but it won't be because of you." On this, the elevator doors opened and he flew out of them. Arizona sighed, face palming herself internally for letting Callie go the other day.

Callie had been paged 911 in the ER. First, she turned it down. She didn't want to go to work. She felt good lazying around in sweatpants on the couch, their cart Simba beside her. With a cup of tea and an old episode of her favorite sitcom, she guiltily ignored her page. Sofia had just left for school about three hours ago, and Callie had woken up to make her a decent breakfast. She felt like her daughter was losing weight lately and it made her even more edgy than she usually was.

Her pager went off one more time. Suddenly, she was sick of hiding. Sick of crying. She turned off the TV and quickly changed into street clothes. Go, Torres. You've got it. She jogged up to the hospital and went to the closest nurses desk. "Hello Zooey, I've been paged, apparently." She gave the nurse her best smile. She took a quick glance at her; petite, blonde, bright green eyes. She looked hot, to be honest.

So Callie decided she'd been down long enough. Arizona was in a relationship, and so was Mark. She could use some fun. She turned her back to the ER nurse with a wink and a little more sway in her hips than needed. She could feel green eyes on her. And it felt damn good.

She found her patient, a young woman in her late twenties, lying on a bed in the ER. She took the chart and put on her "Hi, I'm Doctor Torres, I'm going to take a look at your knee bone…" The brunette put on some sterilized gloves and started her exam. Seeing the face of her patient, she knew this was probably more than a few bruises.

"Yeah… I'm sorry but you need to take a CT." She started to like this patient, actually.

"Awh… I lost."

"Wait, what." The brunette was confused. She looked up at the young woman sitting in front of her. She had long brown hair and dark eyes that stared at her expectantly.

"I lost my bet, with my friend. She told me my doctor would be hot, I was sure my doctor would be an old creep. I obviously lost." She shrugged, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Ooo-kay…" Callie had never flirted with a patient. She had slept with a few coworkers - okay, more than a few - but that's where the line was. She had never crossed this line. However, this patient was more than that. She was good looking, and self-confident. Could totally go for one night.

"So, tell me what happened. How did you do this to your—" cute little butt? "yourself. To yourself." She took some notes on the chart, and decided to page cardio once she'd heard she didn't remember much, but her friend told her she'd had complained from chest pain.

"Someone page me Yang, please." Torres asked to the interns staring at her oddly.

"Yang's in surgery, Doctor Torres." Callie growled. Welcome back, Torres.

"Then page anyone from goddamn cardio please."

A few minutes later, Teddy Altman entered the room. " I've heard you need a cardio consult. Teddy Altman, cardio god." The dirty blonde haired woman made a quick presentation of herself. She started by reading what was already written on the patient's chart.

"Did you mean _goddess_?" Callie asked, grinning wildly at her old friend.

"Oh my god! Callie Torres! How— How are you? And Sofia? God, it's been so _looong_." She quickly hugged her friend, then realized this was probably the most inappropriate place ever to relink with old classmates.

They both were so happy to catch each other again, but had silently agreed on putting off for a while, at least so they could do their work in the best circumstances. It had been a few years since they saw each other, and quickly Callie realized this day was probably the best since a week or so.

Teddy exited the room after assuring the woman that she was not a cardiac patient, and waited for Callie to get out as well. She quickly finished taking notes on her chart, before walking to her friend. « Callie! It's soo good to see you. » She hugged her. « Come, we'll take coffee. How are you sweetie? »

The two old friends caught up for a good thirty minutes. Callie wasn't supposed to be back at work, well she was, but no one knew she'd come so she hadn't been paged once. Same went for Teddy. It was her first day at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital. She knew Callie worked here, and she had been beyond excited to see her old friend, and meeting her the same morning had been perfect. « So have you been given the Grand Tour of the Hospital? » The brunette asked the new cardiothoracic surgeon.

"Nope, not yet. Would you?" She replied as they entered the elevator cage.

"Of course! It'd be my pleasure. So, have you seen T and AZ yet?" Callie tried to sound casual, but she knew that Teddy would be just as happy to see Timothy again as she was to see Arizona. Maybe she should have felt bad, but she actually was happy to be able to go through that with Teddy. She may be the only one to fully understand the brunette.

A few years ago, about a month after Arizona had left Callie in that park in Miami, Tim and Teddy had also broken up. Teddy since then had never seen Tim again. On the other hand, she'd seen Arizona a few times and still considered her as a good friend. They could be best friends again, if they tried. At least that's what she thought. She didn't know anymore.

"Oh, really? They work here?" Seeing the ortho surgeon nod, she resumed. "That's— hum that's great, I guess." She shrugged.

"Yeah. Or awesome, she'd say." The Latina raised an eyebrow and took the last sip of her coffee cup.

Teddy, who wasn't expecting a joke, laughed wholeheartedly. "My god, Callie, you're bad."

Callie deadpanned. "I know."

After another two hours of showing around the hospital, Callie suggested to eat at the cafeteria. They grabbed some lunch and took a chair at Callie's usual table with her friends. "Hey guys! So this is Teddy Altman, our new cardio attending, who also happens to be an old friend of mine. Teddy, this is Mark Sloan, plastic, Addison Montgomery, OB and Derek Shepherd, neuro." Callie introduced her to her friends.

"Hey Teddy!" They all greeted together.

"Take a seat, ladies." Mark grinned at them. Callie couldn't help rolling her eyes at her best friend's antics. She knew this smirk, and she didn't need it on her first day back.

"I so missed you too, Marcus." She smiled at him while starting eating a carrot.

"You know I missed you here." He looked at her with a knowing smile. Callie knew she couldn't keep anything from him. She couldn't even say she was sick for a week. He knew better. "Oh by the way I ran into Robbins this morning."

At the sound of this, Callie froze. "Wait, what."

After her run in with Sloan this morning, Arizona decided to stay at the Peds ward for as long as possible. She could even skip lunch for that matter. It turned out the intern at the ER just needed her to sign off the chart, so they could discharge the kid.

"A coffee for the prettiest gal around here." A voice came behind her.

"God! Timothy. You scared the shit outta me." She tried to catch her breath.

"Who else would it be, Ari." He offered his sister a large cup and a donut. They started hanging out around the basement of the hospital. "So, I haven't seen you around today. You weren't there at lunch. Had a surgery?" Her brother didn't know if Arizona knew that Callie was back, and so was Teddy. He then opted for a simple casual question. After all, they were both in the same misery. So he hoped they could get through this together.

"Nope. Just had loads of paperwork, ya know." She lifted her cup to her mouth, trying to sound cool, but actually she wasn't. She'd heard nurses talking about Callie and a nurse - Zo— zoo? Why can't I remember her name!? - and a patient, who was apparently really close to getting steamy with the hot Latina - in front of the interns? Really? Who does that, ugh. But she wasn't ready to have the confirmation just yet. Just, not yet.

"So, you don't know…" He deducted. Elementary, my dear Watson. Elementary.

"About Callie? I heard." She shrugged. "I mean, who does that. Who tries to get into their patient's pants? It's— it's just" She made a face of disgust.

"You only say so because your patients are kids." He deadpanned.

"Well, maybe, but… Nurses?" She said, lifting her coffee cup to her face.

"Well, interns?" He mocked her sayings. Timothy knew his sister wasn't disgusted, but jealous. She could tell anyone she wanted that she was with Leah, but he knew she still had feelings for a particular brunette. Arizona huffed, and waited in silence for the elevator. It was so silent that they could hear the laughters coming from the cage. They looked at each other, matching scared look on their faces. No way. Not them. They could have easily recognize their laughters between thousands of sounds.

When the doors opened on the brother and his sister, an awkward silence filled the room. Callie stared intensely at Arizona, determined not to broke her gaze under any circumstances. Finally, Arizona looked down when they heard Teddy awkwardly greet them. « Hey guys. I'm so happy to see you, again. It's been years! » She took them both in a friendly hug.

"Hey T! How have you been?" Arizona flashed them her best smile, although she couldn't help but notice the hint of genuine sadness behind Callie's eyes. At that moment, she wished she could take it all away. Even if that meant for her to be happy with someone else, she would do it. She would let her be with anyone.

"Good, Good. Thanks. Well, sorry, but K said she'd show me 'round, so… see ya." She quickly took her friend's hand and dragged them out of that damn elevator.

"Well that was awkward. Can you believe we used to hand out all the bloody time?" Tim said, resting against a wall of the elevator.

"I know, right…" Arizona huffed. She was mad at Teddy for taking Callie's side. She knew there wasn't any side to this, but she couldn't help feeling that way. She was supposed to be my best friend.

"I didn't even know they were friends… I'm sure they love to talk about us, sweet cheeks. We're that good." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"You, dork." She laughed out loud. "You know I love you, Tim. And I don't know what I'd do without you." She put her arm on his shoulders.

"You, dork." He stuck out his tongue at her. After smacking him behind the head, she made her way out of the cage. When will this day finally touch its end?

Meanwhile, Callie and Teddy were spending a good lazy day around the hospital. After having been showed all the corners of this huge hospital. "So, you never really knew why Tim and I broke up… all those years ago." Callie subtly looked up from her sudoku. They had taken place on an old hospital bed in the basement of the building. The brunette didn't want to say anything that would make Teddy stop her from finally revealing the reason of their breakup. It had been years that Callie needed, no craved, to know! They both always looked so in love. Just like AZ and I…

Seeing Callie look up, she continued. "Well, you know, at the time, we had just started our college years and… He still lived in Miami, I was in Los Angeles. It was so messy at the time, and— and he was constantly saying we should break up, so I started to doubt. I — I thought he had someone else. And around December, he sent me a letter in —" Teddy shook her head, in attempt to erase the tears that threatened to fall from the corner of her eyes. "—in which he was saying he had an affair with someone. I tried to understand at first, I really did. I also tried to talk to AZ about it and… well, you know, you two had just broken up. I couldn't go and tell her her brother had done the same thing you— no she thought you had done to her." She was trying to explain clearly, but failed miserably. "So yeah. After some time I simply couldn't take the image of it. I mean, he cheated. I know, he was probably drunk and wasted and thought about me, or at least that's what he had said to me at the time. I mean, I was thinking about him all the time. I was miserable just thinking he could be sad, even just a little bit, because of me. But— yeah. Never mind. He wasn't."

Callie shot her a sympathetic smile. She squeezed her thigh before choosing carefully what to say. "You know… I'm sure he was. Tim has always been a good man."

"A good man in the storm…" They completed the infamous Robbins' sentence. They were both in love with the brother and sister, yet they couldn't admit it. It was too soon; or too late…


	6. Chapter 6

It had been about a week time since Callie had gone back to work. To her own good, Mark nor Addison had decided to bring up the particular reason she hadn't been to the hospital for days. She was glad that they let her deal with her problems alone; they had finally understood after more than fifteen years that she had to do so. Work it out alone. She couldn't count on other people to be happy. Although, she always had this voice in the back of her mind, saying over and over again.

 _You should call Rachel_.

Right then, she was sitting on her couch besides her daughter, an open box on the coffee table, with left over cold pizza waiting on the new episode of American Horror Story. She'd missed those Wednesdays' nights, alone with her daughter. Lately, Sofia had always been at Mark's on Wednesday's, or she wasn't feeling good enough to spend the evening sitting with her daughter in front of a good movie or episode of their favorite tv show. She felt guilty for it; this situation. Her break down. That Sofia had to relive it all again with her.

 _That's why you should call Rachel_.

Sofia caught her mother glaring outside the window. Something felt off. She didn't exactly know what. She knew her mom had a troubled past, but she didn't give her details. She tried her best to stay out of it most of the times, but when her mother was pushing everyone aside, she felt like she had to do something. And even tho she could understand that her mother only wanted to protect her, she wanted to be here for her. She was the most important person in Callie's life, and thought that if she could do something, she should. After all she was almost grown up; she was going to college next year. So she decided to speak up. "What's up Mami? Are you good? You seem a little... upset." She soothed her with a comforting smile.

Callie looked up at her daughter who was staring expectantly right in her eyes. They had the same deep and meaningful brown orbs. "Yeah...yeah. I'll be fine. What about you, baby girl? You lost so much weight recently. Are you feeling sick?" The older woman asked squeezing Sofia's thighs.

"Yup. I'm... feeling great." Sofia was proud her mom noticed she'd get thinner. She just thought she could use less of pounds for her graduation dress. "And I'm not pregnant, if that's what you're wondering too."

"I didn't mean this, baby girl. Wait, too?" Callie felt confused. She didn't know what her daughter heard by this sentence. Did that mean someone asked her whether she was pregnant? Did that mean they had doubts but didn't share them with her? Her as, Sofia's mother?

"Yeah. Earlier this week dad heard me throw up, and thought I was pregnant. I was like, if you can be pregnant and a virgin, then it may be possible but... well it's not possible." Sofia rolled her eyes at the thinking. "Your dad didn't tell me he had...suspicions." Callie threw her head back in laughter.

"I can assure you, he was more than certain. I almost sent him to you. I mean, it's with you that I've always talked about sex. I don't think I ever wanna deal with his awkwardness on that topic. God, how can he hit on every female at work, and not even know how to handle talking contraception with his daughter." Sofia was now laughing along Callie.

"That's because he loves you." Callie noted, with a sly smile. Even after all those years, the brunette couldn't be happier that her father's daughter was her best friend. He'd been along her side through it all, and still stood by her. It was more than she could say about anyone in her life.

After a few minutes of silence, Callie thought back on what her daughter said earlier. She'd let it slip on the moment, and she was trying to find the right words to explain what she wanted, no needed, to say to the younger Latina.

"When did he told you that?" She inquired, with a suspicious tone.

"Um...told ya. Earlier this week. Monday I think." Sofia shifted on the couch. She was getting more than uncomfortable.

"You were already feeling sick then?" Uh-oh. Mami's giving me the look.

"Nope...I'm not feeling sick."

"Sofia... You know, I never told you about the few first years of college. Because I thought, if I don't tell her, she'll be away from aall this mess, you know. But I was clearly wrong. Because everything ends up running back to me. And I realize that only now. So I have to tell you, that you are beautiful. Inside and out. Don't let anyone make you think otherwise. Just embrace who you are, because at the end of the day you know that you have a family to come home to. You have friends. You have a home." She opened her arms and took her in a big embrace. "I love you. Now shut up, it is startingg!" Callie turned off the lights, and turned on the volume. She was ridiculously excited, after all it was just an episode-of their favorite tv show. Sofia chuckled at this side of her mother that she was probably the only one to know. All evening Callie brushed lightly Sofia's hair, praying silently for her to be okay at the end of the journey. The journey that would bring her to adulthood.

Meanwhile, Tim was running down the hospital halls, looking for his sister. He had big, big news and he needed to find her as soon as possible. "Sorry, have you seen Doctor Robbins?" He asked a nurse sitting behind the ER desk.

"I am pretty sure I see you." Is she flirting with me? God, not now, Beth. I need to find Arizona ASAP, ugh.

"Hum... Yeah. Have you seen my sister?" This was getting seriously annoying. He let out a sigh. "I need to talk to her. Have you or not?"

"I saw her at the cafeteria ten minutes ago." As soon as he heard her response, he ran off. "Oh my god Arizona! Finally. I've been looking for you since lunch!"

Arizona sighed loudly. It had been a long day, and as much as she loved her brother, she wanted to sleep. In her bed. Right now. "Sorry. Got caught in a surgery that ran long. What's up?"

"Jeez. Not even a smile to your favorite brother?" Tim bumped their shoulders.

"You're my only brother, Timothy." She reminded him with a dimpled smile. "So, why did you want to see me?"

"Mom and dad are coming. Like, real soon. Dad just called me. Apparently, Mom wants to surprise us, you know her, however Dad was kind enough to warn us..." he said, checking his wristwatch. "...three hours before their flight lands."

Arizona's head snapped back at her brother. "They're coming? Like, here?"

"That they are, sis, that they are." He knew why she was so freaked out. Not because of their parents, who were amazingly perfect parents, but because of what that meant. As soon as their mother would learn about Callie, Teddy and even Sofia, she would want to see them, organize a dinner, and so on. And that, they weren't ready for.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. What- what are we gonna do?" The blonde started pacing the floor of the cafeteria, which was oddly empty for a Wednesday early evening.

"I... don't know?" Tim inhaled a big breath, and exhaled. "We'll take it one step at the time. But they're staying with you, my apartment is way too small. I won't make them sleep on the couch when they can have a room at your place. So, sorry not sorry, but kick that intern out for a few days." Arizona knew by the look and the tone of her brother that he left no room for an argument.

"She doesn't even stay at my place. She has hers'. It won't be a problem." She shrugged.

"Yeah, well, make sure she stays there, unlike that evening when Callie knocked at your door to find her." He was kind of angry at his sister. She had a chance at this. She could have gotten back the relationship she shared with Callie, one full of intense love that words can't even begin to describe, instead she chose an easy Intern-Attending kind of romance. He would have given the world to have Teddy back, and he knew they didn't love each other half as much as his sister and best friend did. However, the perky PEDs Attending preferred Leah Murphy over Callie Torres. He hated the person Arizona Robbins had become; she was born a fighter, someone who protects the person they love. Not someone who let them aside in hope to be content with a relationship everyone could have. Their love was extraordinary.

"How'd you know that?" Arizona started feeling guilty. She was responsible for Callie's state of mind, she was well aware of that. However, her brother knowing, was another thing. She was sure he was disappointed in her, which he was, according to the attitude he was giving her and he was right to be. She knew what he was thinking of, but prefer not to let him know so.

"Callie told me. I asked her if she felt better and she went all Bitchzilla about how I should maybe ask you, or even better, Leah Murphy. Yeah, she clearly still cares about you, but you seem to not mind. Or I don't know what's up with you, but seriously. Get your crap together. Go home, take a nap and do some cleaning before Mom finds something compromising." Tim simply left her standing there, in the middle of some hospital corridors.

So Arizona did as she was told. She didn't do it simply to please her brother, she did it because she knew her brother was right. And she deeply loved her parents. She'd missed them so much. During her last relationship, her ex wouldn't be a big family time fan. She said she was in a relationship with the girl, not her brother nor parents. And at first, she tried to understand it. Joanne was coming from a not so tied up family, and she thought maybe, you know, seeing the Robbins family all the time together and loving each other so genuinely was maybe too much. However now she realized she was wrong. She should never have put anyone nor anything before her family. Because family is everything. And she was feeling so lucky she still had them. She was willing to stay in touch with them, and catch up as much as her job allowed her to.

Hours later, Arizona was smoking her third cigarette. She was totally freaking out, internally. She was praying for her parents to be okay. Their flight probably got simply delayed. No big deal.

Arizona was telling herself so, however she knew deep inside her guts something was wrong. So, when her pager rang 911, she hoped some little boy needed her help, and, most importantly, that she could actually help him. She flew off to the hospital, letting on her fridge a post-it to let her parents know she'd been paged, in case they'd come home to an empty place. But they never did, not that night.

Once the episode was over, Callie changed the channel and caught on some news. She decided to wake up Sofia to let her go to sleep, in her bed. "Sofia… baby, go to sleep. It's late and you have school tomorrow." Sofia stirred up, and stretched out her arms before getting up of the couch. "Love ya, mom." Just as she'd said that, Callie's pager went off. "What? Noooooooo I wanna sleep." Callie whined.

Sofia chuckled at her mother, before lazily heading into her bedroom. « Go save lives. Be amazing, Mami. » She waved at her, and closed her door. Callie ran up to the door and headed to the hospital. She'd just been paged a second time, 911. She should probably pick up the pace, and go to the pit where she was needed.


	7. Chapter 7

Callie rushed towards the ER. She ran up to the nurses' desk, asked for the patients whom she was assigned to. She read through the five charts; a plane had crashed at the Seattle Tac. While landing, a wheel hadn't opened properly and it had made the plane go out of the tarmac. Callie felt her breath cut short; since her family's plane accident, she had a slight tendency to have panic attacks whenever someone mentioned the freaking P-word. Why can't people use cars. No, not cars. Cars crash too.

 _Inhale. Exhale_. She examined the first patient; she was a pregnant woman with a broken leg. Her tibia bone was fractured, but it was nothing major. After stabilizing her patient, she looked down at her pager. Another flux of patients was coming to the bay, so she ran to the bay and tied up her trauma gown. She took a quick look around; the Emergency Room was a mess. Literally. Poor resident who is in charge of the pit today. I bet they thought it would be a slow day.

The sound of the siren pulled her out of her thoughts. She, along with Bailey, Little Grey and Yang ran up to the first ambulance. Another patient, rather a minor case, was being wheeled out by Nicole, the paramedic. "Linda Emiraldy, 29 years old. Possible internal bleeding in her left leg. She's gotta be examined as soon as possible. She crashed twice on our way here." Callie quickly gave out orders around the newest patient who was now laying in bed 5 in SGMWH's ER. She could hear other patients being brought down other cars and bringing onto hospital beds, but she was so absorbed in her auscultation that she didn't even notice the people around her. All she could focus on was her patient; and right then, she was the only human being she cared for on Earth. Well, maybe not, there is also Sofia, but at least in the whole room.

She was so caught up in her work, she didn't notice the older woman being wheeled in by the front doors. On the other hand, the blue eyed wrinkled face noticed the raven haired very quickly; she could see her black curls hanging on her navy blue scrub top. She couldn't help but wonder what her daughter's life would have been with this beautiful young Latina by her side. Since the two of them had broken up, the worst of a nightmare for a mother had become Barbara's daughter's life. The young blonde couldn't seem to find a woman to her taste; they always needed Arizona to do something bigger, something better.

Barbara may have never known what made her daughter and her ex-girlfriend break up exactly, but she knew one thing: they were meant to be. She knew coming to Seattle that her children were working along side of Teddy and Callie, women she'd had considered her friends years and years up the road. They were all so tied up back then, she couldn't have consider both Arizona and Tim end up their lives with other people. It simply wouldn't have been right.

So when the black haired doctor grabbed her chart, she knew she hadn't even had the time to even read the first line, supposed to be the patient's name. Barbara then chose to make herself noticed. "Callie, it's really good to see you dear."

"Barb… Ms Robbins? Oh, oh my god. I'm- I'm so sorry. I hadn't even noticed— are you okay? Your exams look good. I don't think you're going to be okay. I'm— I mean we'll get you a good room. I'll make sure of that. Are you— Has anyone paged Tim and Arizona?" Callie rambled on, without noticing the elder woman's smile.

"I'm good, I've been lucky. Could you however check on Daniel, please. No one's told me anything, they just wheeled him in a trauma room, apparently." She tried to brush off her worry, but Callie had seen the glimpse of fear crossing her features.

"Of course. I'll let you know." She gave her hand a tight squeeze and a reassuring smile, before turning her head to the nurses. "Please, bring her up on my ward and page Dr Robbins. Both, doctors. Thanks."

911 Doctor Torres, in Trauma Room 3, Doctor Torres 911 in Trauma Room 3 immediately.

Callie signed off the chart before excusing herself to Barbara. She knew this had to be serious for her to be called through the speaker, so she hurried herself in front of the other patient. "What do we got?" She asked as she put on some gloves to proceed her exam on the patient.

It hit her; this was Colonel Daniel Robbins of the United States Marine Corps. She could still recognize his face despite the bruising and swelling. And he was in such a bad shape. She took a big breath, and quickly busied herself around him. She had to make him heal. She couldn't make Arizona, Timothy and Barbara live what she had lived through. She just couldn't.

 _Why didn't I call Rachel when I still could_?

Meanwhile, Timothy and Arizona had arrived at the pit. Seeing his sister a few feet ahead of him, the blond man picked up his pace and caught up with her. « Hey, you got paged too? »

Arizona nodded along, picking up some gloves. "Yup, trauma bed 3."

"Me too! A case together?" He bumped their shoulders together while they found themselves in front of bed number 3. They both gasped at the sight before them.

"Mom!" "What's happened?" came their responses, still shocked.

Tim turned to his sister. "They were supposed to be at yours', you never told me they hadn't arrived."

"I-I was just… I got paged, so I left them a note. I couldn't fathom they would end up in the accident!" The blonde woman sighed in frustration, her voice an octave higher than her usual perky tone.

"I'm fine, kids. Who paged you? I didn't ask for you two." Barbara asked, turning her glance to the nurses.

"Doctor Torres did." came one of the younger nurse response.

"Callie saw you?" "You saw Callie?" the brother and sister exclaimed at the same time.

"I did! She took great care of me, she's really been sweet. She didn't let an intern do the job, even though she could have. She stayed until she got called through the speakers." She offered with a reassuring smile, despite her mind being on her husband. She needed to know his condition; she'd lived like this for years while he was in the Marines, but she couldn't do it anymore. Her poor heart couldn't take it; she had to know.

Arizona cringed at the thought of her ex-girlfriend and her mother together. She had always thought, when she was younger, that her mother liked Callie rather more than she loved her. She'd thought, it was normal, who was she to say anything? She loved Callie more than anyone, the girl had a huge heart and was so gorgeous. Of course, later on she understood her mother only wanted them to feel like they were welcome in the family; she loved them like her own children.

The sound of their pagers filled once more the room. They both looked at each other. Tim took a peak at his sister's, noticing he was paged in Trauma Room 3, as well as Arizona. They both had the same suspicion. "Hm— Mom, do you know… hm do you know where is Dad?" He finally spoke up their thoughts.

Barbara looked away from their expecting gazes, trying to form coherent sentences. "I'm- He was.. hum, I don't know." She was actually more than anxious about him. She didn't want to let them know, she wanted to protect them, of course. But not knowing was killing her slowly.

"Can you, hum, check on him? Please?" She gave them a tight smile, far from the dimpled ones that usually were on the older woman's face.

"Sure." Arizona gave her a hug before turning on her heels to Trauma Room 3. Tim waved his hand at her, letting her know they would come back as soon as possible.

After stabilizing the patient, Callie made sure Daniel Robbins would be treated by the best surgeons of the hospital. So she made the interns paged Dr Bailey to work on his internal bleedings in his abdomen, along with Dr Hunt to help her give the man back his two legs, which would be harder than expected.

"Did you page Robbins as well?" She urged the interns, once again. "You won't get to scrub in if they don't come into this room within the next five minutes."

"We can't make them run." Meredith Grey, the resident working under Bailey, mumbled under her breath.

Callie's head snapped up. "You know why you wouldn't scrub? Not because I don't want to, not even because Bailey wouldn't want to, but because the patient will bleed out to death!" She felt her anger risen up, so she tried her best to reign it in. She took a big breath in, then asked again. "Do you know where they are? Damn it." She took another compress to try to make the bleeding stop.

About half a minute later, she saw Timothy run up by the window, then he flew the door open. "Robbins, I'm sorry, but we need your-" Hunt tried to stop him at the door.

"Is it him? Callie, look at me." He begged, tearing up. Callie was starting to shake, she couldn't look at them without crying herself. She always had a soft spot for the elder Robbins, he had been there for her when she struggled with her sexuality.

_Flashback_

It was a Sunday afternoon. Callie wanted to see Arizona, she needed to be with someone she knew loved her. She thought Arizona was the only one, at the time. However the blonde wasn't home yet. Her mother had told her she went out with some friends; probably Teddy. She should've been home half an hour ago, but she still wasn't. So she decided to simply wait on the front porch.

Some time later, she heard footsteps coming from the Robbins' house front door. She tried to wipe away her tears, but as soon as she did so, new ones fell freely on her cheeks. She wasn't one to cry in front of strangers - or barely so. But she also was her Daddy's little girl. Always had been. And being rejected so freely hurt so deep.

He had said mean words to her before; about her lifestyle, her sexuality. He had already told her she'd be sent in Hell. He had never said he couldn't love her for being a lesbian. But that night, he had.

Daniel felt his heart broke at the scene before his eyes. He had wished for a minute or two that his daughter would come back really soon, so Callie wouldn't cry her eyes out outside of his house. Barbara had wanted to give her a hug, so Daniel proposed himself for the task. He knew a fatherly love hug would make her feel better. She would have needed her daddy to love her, and he couldn't. Daniel felt like he was the closest thing to the brunette's father for now. So he sat next to her on the porch and let her lean in the embrace, until she had no more tear in her body. She looked up at him, her eyes silently thanking him for everything. Daniel had since then a soft spot for her as well, but they never talked about this ever again.

Daniel walked back in, after he remember the younger girl. "He's gonna come around. He loves you very deeply, anyone can see that. Just… you're always welcome here. You can stay if you need to." He gave her a genuine smile.

"Callie!" Arizona came in, and urged, seeing the brunette lost in her own thoughts.

"Y-Yes. It is. We need to take him up, we already booked an OR." The ortho surgeon answered shortly, without looking up from the man's legs.

"What happened?" Tim asked, in a doctor tone. He tried his best to gather all composure possible. He knew his sister and mother would need him to.

"We don't really know. Both of his legs need surgery. However, he'll probably gain a full use back thanks to Doctor Torres' new technique. She could be able to—" Hunt was starting to explain.

"No." The peds surgeon firmly stated.

Callie looked up, feeling only more insecure. Her eyes locked for the first time with her ex-lover's, staring intently at her.

"What! why?" The brother turned to his sister. He was dumbstruck; he didn't understand why she wasn't willing to this.

"It's too risky. She— she hasn't even proven this technique actually works! It's our dad we're talking about. He— He could live without his legs, but we can't lose him. Our mother can't lose him. What makes you think he won't die on the table? It's still experimental! It hasn't even been approved to be applied on non-willing patients!" She nearly screamed at the full trauma room. All eyes were on her, but that didn't stop her.

"That's why we paged you. We just need your consent. It's not even that much of a risky procedure, Doctor Torres there has the best record possible; she doesn't lose nearly as much patients as her peers. Let her do her job." Owen Hunt spoke up.

"Chief, I think you should let them decide themselves…" Callie tried to rationalise. She knew as soon as you talked about losing limbs to family, they could be really shocked. She also tried not to show how hurt she was by the blonde's words; after all, they hadn't even worked together! Who was she to judge her ability to work? She was a damn good surgeon. The best orthopedic surgeon in Seattle, hell even in Washington. If not the freaking country! I made cartilage out of jello. And I love your Dad very much as well! Ugh.

"We'd rather have the Head of ortho operating on our father." the peds surgeon finally spoke.

"I'm sorry, what?" an intern sneered. "Just tell us you'd rather have your father die." Cristina Yang commented.

"Honestly, you don't want Chang to operate on your father when you can have Torres." Miranda Bailey added. Out of all the persons in the room, she was the one they had the least expected to hear their opinions from. "I'm just saying! Torres is the best you can have. Don't put your quarrels in between your father's life, for the love of God. He deserves the best care, Torres it is then! Sign that damn paper, so we can go stop the bleeding in an OR." She surrendered.

They all looked stunned at the general surgeon. "Fine." was the only word the blonde said.

"Gimme the papers, I'll have my mother sign them." Timothy added.

As soon as their response was given, the team ran up to the OR to operate on their colleagues' father.


	8. Chapter 8

As soon as Cristina Yang had left the OR, running up to the ER where she'd been paged because, let's face it, she was the best heart surgeon after Doctor Altman, who was right at this moment in the middle of a double cardiac valve replacement in OR 3, she saw two blond faces run up to her.

Nope. Now was not the time.

"Cristina— Doctor Yang! How— How is he doing?" the peds surgeon managed to get out of her mouth.

"Well, they're still in there. Which means he isn't dead. He's alive, stop stressing yourselves like that. I— Look, I know the feeling, but I've been paged 911 in the pit, they really need me there." the Korean woman excused herself.

"Yeah, of course. We know the drill, thanks." Timothy spoke up. "Come, we'll go sit with Mom in her room. They'll page us when they're done." he said, almost having to drag his sister behind his footsteps.

It had already been three hours that Doctor Callie Torres had been operating on their father. They hadn't been able to look up from the observatory room, because the only OR available at the time was a without observatory room one. Add to that the fact that Callie just did not need the Robbins' siblings bouncing on their feet, watching her operating on their father. She was edgy enough without them upstairs.

When Callie had finished her surgery, which went almost as smoothly as possible, and closed up the patient - Colonel Daniel Robbins of the Marine Corps of the United States of America - herself, she was scrubbing out of her surgery. Trying to gather as much courage as she could to go speak to the Robbins', she stepped out of the scrub room.

At first, Callie thought that she couldn't do it because of Arizona, and the looks the blonde was giving her as soon as she stepped into whatever room she was. It wasn't even a look of hate, or disdain, in the other hand; it was more like a look of wonder, almost like she couldn't believe Callie - her Calliope, was here. In Seattle. In the very same hospital.

Slowly, however, she came to a realization. She feared them all, all of the Robbins' family member. She couldn't disappoint them. She loved them all, oh so very deeply. Barbara, Arizona, Daniel, Tim and Teddy were family to her, just like Aria.

Entering the room where Daniel had been wheeled in until he would wake up, all three pairs of eyes looked up to Callie. She put herself immediately back into doctor mode.

As she told them the good news, they all sighed in relief. Arizona stormed out of the room, but Timothy and her mother squeezed Callie into a tight hug.

Callie only had the time to notice the tears that were streaming down the face of the gorgeous peds surgeon's face. She could only hope those were happy tears.

Some hours later, Callie was sleeping in late because she was exhausted after her long hours in the OR in the middle of the night, when she heard someone knock at her door. She lazily put on some boxer briefs and her over worn Columbia t-shirt before dragging herself to the door. She didn't even bother looking who was there, she knew it was Mark knocking probably having once again forgot to go grocery shopping and needed sugar for his coffee.

"Why do you bother knocking Mark, you never usually do…" Callie trails off while going to the kitchen to make herself a pot of coffee.

"Um… hi, Calliope." The blonde nervously chuckled.

"Oh, Arizona. Hi, and uh, please make yourself at home. Sorry, I thought it was uh- Mark and Sofia. Just, come in, I'll go put on some sweatpants." Callie stuttered, suddenly feeling very self-conscious about her look.

"Oh, please. Nothing that I've never seen before. Stay comfortable." Her ex winked at her. "You still got your Star Wars briefs? God, Cal, your geek is showing."

"Hey, Star Wars is unconditional. And don't think I haven't noticed you staring at my ass." she teased her. She could see her cheeks getting a darker shade of pink.

As Callie poured them two cups of coffee, Arizona cleared her throat. "Um, I wanted to apologize. You've done an amazing job on Dad and you know how I can get when one of my folks is hurt or-or-or admitted into the hospital and I can't do anything about it. Then I was just overly emotional and I know you have a soft spot for Daddy Robbins, don't even try to deny it Cal, so I thought, what if she freaks out in that OR? And I felt bad 'cause I never even saw you operating, and don't get me wrong, I'm not doubting your surgeon skills or anything but I was just scared and I would have liked to know a little bit more about Doctor Torres in that moment, so—" She rambled on and on.

Callie, giving in and deciding to spare the blonde her words. "Yeah, all of that to say, sweet cheeks?"

The nickname slipped, and Arizona's head jerked up at the sound of it. Callie tried an easy smile, feeling uncomfortable at her misspoken words. But Arizona didn't seem to mind it, and simply replied. "I'm sorry. And I know, you and I, we never talked it out. We were young, and reckless, and—"

"I'm sorry, is that all you've got to say in this? I mean, sure, I have my faults in this too, but I would never question your work. That… that just hurt. You haven't even stepped a foot in my OR to say this." Callie started getting upset again.

"No… I mean this was wrong of me, I know it and I'm sorry. I mean of course, I was upset, and I shouldn't have talked to you like this. I… I just get so... so… so mad at you, Calliope! Why did you…" The peds surgeon shook her head. She needed to clear her thoughts.

"Why have I never called? Let's be honest, Ari, I heard you had a girlfriend like two months after our 'breakup'!" Callie reminded her, using air quotes. "And to be honest, quite frankly, I was mad. You didn't even hear me out. You don't know what I went through… what I still go through." Callie sadly dropped her head.

Arizona, for the first time, felt guilt rush all over her. It was true, she never gave Callie the time of the day. However she was constantly thinking about her, at every steps of her life. But she still firmly held that she went through a lot on her own. She wished she didn't just assume Callie cheated, because then she wouldn't have been on her own for fifty more years, she wouldn't have trust issues, and most importantly Callie would have had someone by her side. Callie wouldn't have had a child with her best friend… they could have made a family out of love.

It was the first time Callie had openly admitted that her life wasn't a peaceful ride. And she was ashamed. Because Callie thought, after such a long time, she should be able to have restful nights. She should have moved on.

Instead, she survived through weekly phone calls to her shrink. She still had nightmares. She still thought she heard his voice at night. And it was a living hell.

As she was lost in her thoughts, nose in her steaming coffee cup, Arizona noticed the heavy dark bags under the brown orbs staring in the seemingly brown hot liquid. She just wanted to take this woman in her arms, to kiss away the pain, and to hold her. To let her sleep in her arms while she would make her feel safe; safe enough so she wouldn't wake up until she would be as well rested as possible.

And so she did. She gently approached the woman who she knew held the biggest place in her heart, forever, and she pulled away their coffee mugs. Then she cupped the brunette's face, sweetly demanding her to look into her eyes. When she saw those big brown eyes filled with unshed tears, she felt her heart shattering into thousands of little pieces. She had never, ever felt someone else's pain so strongly.

So she smiled to her, gently removing the tears from Callie's cheeks, whispering over and over how sorry she was. How she would make it up to her. She then moved her to her bed and protectively wrapped her arms around her waist.

It was the first night in many many years that she had slept, and dreamt about an eventual future with the love of her life.

When Callie woke up, she could feel that everything was different. Arizona had been true to her word, she hadn't left Callie's side. She had protected her all night from the bad dreams, most importantly she had made her feel safe, something she hadn't felt in years of being lonely.

Sure, Callie had eventually dated, then had hot sex, but that didn't mean she didn't feel lonely over the years.

"Hey sleeping beauty, how did you sleep?" The blonde gently asked her as she noticed her breathing change slightly to become a little less…peaceful.

"Great. Thank you…" Callie said her voice still thick with sleep.

"It was my pleasure, really."

"I think we should talk." Callie awkwardly blurted out after a few minutes of silence had passed.

"Hm yeah of course. I mean I'd love to hear your story if you wanted me to." Arizona winced at her own choice of words— her rape was probably not a lovely story after all.

"Hmm okay. So yeah. Remember how hard it was in New York at first?" Sensing Arizona's nod to her question, she continued talking with her head in the blonde's lap. Feeling the calming fingertips in her hair helped her working some courage up.

"So it was hard but one night to celebrate our first quiz that went really well, Mark talked me into going for drinks. We drank and celebrated with lots and lots of people in our year. I didn't talk to most of them. Addie was with Derek and Mark was with some… girl, I don't remember to be honest. Then there was this guy, who hit on me all night, and— and I just kept telling him I was in a happy relationship. He asked me 'Why isn't he here to protect you then?' and it— it was my fault really…" Callie choked back a sob.

"It wasn't Cal, you know it wasn't." Arizona continued her strokes, even though her heartache made her want to do so much more than just stroking Callie's dark tresses.

"Yeah, now I do but…" She took in a big breath. "So he was in my Anatomy class, if I remember correctly. His name was… is Michael Jones. Doctor Michael Jones. He then followed me outside the bar once I told him I had enough. He started kissing me and kept my hands behind my head. I was begging him to stop. But he just kept whispering 'You are alone, no one can hear you' and I started crying. I think it was the last time I cried in front of someone. Suddenly I lost all track of time, I just let him rape me on the sidewalk. I just wanted it to end. He hit me in the head after he… he was done with me. He just left me there. Mark found me and brought me to the nearest hospital. Then Addie wanted me to call my parents but I didn't let her. I wanted to heal before you guys came up. So… I made her promise not to call any of you. In the end she called Teddy so.. she knew. But Tim and you… Look I'm sorry I should have said something… anything… but I was so lost. I didn't even know that I was pregnant. I found out some time later. And as soon as I knew, I came down to Miami to tell you. And… you know how that ended." Callie was silently crying. Sure she had talked about this with her therapist but it wasn't the same.

Arizona was the one she loved, the one she wanted a forever with. It would never be the same. And at the same time, she felt so damn relieved that she could finally get it all out. But she knew the blonde would have questions and she could only hope she still had the braveness to answer to them.

"Calliope… Did you ever fill out a-"

Callie knew she was going to ask about this. People always asked about this. So she cut her off. "No, I didn't. I didn't want to. They didn't even do a rape kit on me, when I was brought to the hospital. They just… made sure I was alive."

"But Callie, you knew him… you knew his name. Hell he was in your class!" The blonde started to get upset again.

"You don't understand, Arizona. After that happened, people were always looking down on me. I had to fight to get through every fucking day. And when I had Sofia, almost two years later, it was still all the same. I went through hell and back! And my parents? They didn't even talk to me until my mom's passing!" She shot up from Arizona's lap and sat down on the bed, her back to Arizona.

The blonde was still in shock. She didn't know about it all. She thought she would have, at least, known if Mrs. Torres passed away but apparently that was not the case. She simply brought herself closer to the brunette again, wanting to be closer. She wrapped her legs and arms around Callie, and started peppering gentle kisses on her neck. She'd wanted to do that for forever. She only felt herself around Callie. Maybe because she didn't see her as anything else than her other half, her lover, and possibly her girlfriend again.

"I'm so sorry about your mom. I know how close you two were. How's your Dad? And Aria?" She whispered, almost afraid of the response she would get.

"My dad's okay. Aria is in a coma… they all were in an airplane crash. My dad was in the front seat, that's why he was the only one who got out almost okay besides his dislocated shoulder. My mom basically died right away alongside the pilot Jerry, he's worked for my dad since I can remember. Aria was doing great for a few months, and they decided to operate on her spine again, but… I mean I don't hold it against Amelia. She did her best, even did what Derek couldn't. The operation itself was perfect. We just— We can't understand." Callie slumped her shoulders.

"So, umm you girls stayed in touch during all those years?" Arizona asked, because she knew for sure she hadn't heard of her in years. In high school they used to be the greatest friends, always sticking up together. Life was so short.

"Oh yeah! She's been the greatest Auntie to Sof, really. She took her on trips, she spoiled her. I know Sof misses her a lot. I wish I could do more… I still visit her every day, some times during my lunch break or whenever I have time." Callie smiles sadly.

After some minutes, Arizona breaks the silence. "I'd like to visit her, some time."

Callie, slightly taken aback first, was finding the greatest relief in the blonde's request. "Yes. Of course, I'll take you there. She'd love the company." Callie leaned in the blonde's embrace.

Arizona brought her lips up to the brunette's ear, and started kissing her again. "What do you say to some dinner?" She asked as her stomach growled.

"Yes please. I'm starving!" Callie shot up from bed and lead Arizona to her kitchen. "Do you mind if Sofia comes to dinner with us?" She asked sheepishly, Callie wanting the two of them to get to know each other.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Arizona cheered. Right then, Callie knew she'made the best decision in years by letting the blonde back into her life.

As they sat at the dinner table, they heard the door opening. "Hi Mommy! Are you feeling better?"

"Yes thank you baby girl. Say hi to Arizona, she's staying with us for dinner." Callie said quietly at her daughter, motioning towards the blonde sitting at the table in front of her.

"Oh, hmm, hello. I'm Sofia. Hi!" She said while extending her hand, extra perkily. ' _I have a feeling these two could get along a bit too well…_ ' Callie thought to herself.

They smiled and started making small talk. Callie couldn't believe how great the two of them got along, and Sofia was happy to finally see her mother genuinely feeling good. Arizona, on the other hand, was never one to dream about a family, but with Callie and a great girl such as Sofia... well, she could only hope it would last long enough so she'd be a part of it.


	9. Chapter 9

Arizona hadn't expected half of what Callie had endured : how could one even imagine such hardships in life, let alone in the life of the woman she was trying so hard to hate for the better part of the last fifteen years. Her mind was so focused on hating the brunette, she couldn't even fathom she had actually lost so much. Yet she seems so much happier in life than me, sighs the blonde.

It had been a couple days and Arizona was at her father's hospital room, munching on an apple and overthinking once again. She had tried breaking it off with Leah, she really had. Well… you could have tried harder, Robbins.

But in the meantime, she couldn't face Callie without feeling guilty. She knew Callie trusted her with her story, and not as her best friend, but as more than that. She sighed again.

"Wow, what got you so agitated over there?" She looked up to see her brother standing in the door. He was smiling but you could see he was worn out. His eyes were red and puffy. His hair was slightly messy which was quite out of character for him - he always had his hair nailed down. Spending the last 48 hours at the hospital, worrying about their father waking up, feeling his legs and so on did neither of them any good.

"Um, look at your face." she shot him half jokingly.

He chuckled and entered the room. Looking at his father's vitals, he signed : nothing had changed in the few hours that had passed since he last checked on him. He plopped himself down on the chair across from her sister. He started to study the face he knew oh-so-well. He could tell she was tense. The question is whether or not to ask her what's up now he thought to himself.

Arizona spoke up before he could even open his mouth : "Callie told me. Everything." There was a long couple seconds of silence. "And I feel so, so bad." She smacked her forehead. She was young, and so different then. Yet when she was with Callie the other day... Everything was simple - no everything felt simple. Best feeling in the world.

With Leah, it was oh so complicated. Everything felt forced. But she couldn't tell her that. Plus, Leah was just starting her internship at the hospital. Which meant working with Callie sooner or later. So the blonde chose to leave her ex lover out of this and broke up with the intern on some good old "It's not you, it's me" conversation. Their discussion was lengthy, although nothing was said. Leah kept telling her she couldn't understand.

Timothy startled her out of the chaos of her mind : "Well why would you feel bad? You know, she's not the only one who suffered back then… You did too, and a great deal. Don't excuse everything Phoenix. Not for the wrong reason."

"I know I suffered, but it was nothing of the sort. She lost her family, she was abused, and felt like no one could ever love her. I don't know if I could ever make it up to her." And it was true. Although Arizona knew she no longer wanted nor could be with Leah, she didn't know if she really wanted to be with her long lost lover. Callie had a seemingly well fulfilled life between her tight knight group of friends and her daughter.

Tim shook his head. He couldn't help but wonder if one day his sister would put herself first, be selfish. And most of all, see herself the way everyone around her saw her.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Their father started crashing.

XXX

Meanwhile, Dr. Torres was doing her usual rounds. She was a little distracted in this early morning. Sofia had seemed to be sick too often, and she kept losing weight and feeling happy about it : Callie could only hope this would stop very soon. But she knew that it was probably wishful thinking... Then there was the case of Colonel Robbins. She couldn't quite figure out what had gone wrong, maybe because nothing had. The procedure went perfectly, she followed it by the letter. Yet in the 48 hours since he was operated, nothing had changed. No signs in his vitals. She couldn't look any of the Robbins in the eyes... not after they trusted her with the most precious thing : their father and husband's life. Unknowingly, she furrowed her brows, making her current patient worry. She quickly reassured him and left the room.

Looking at her clock and seeing it was already past 10 in the morning, she thought her third cup of joe of the day was well deserved. So she rode down the elevator and went to her favorite coffee cart. Seeing Bette smiling at her made her feel much better already. And to be honest, so did the coffee smell that hit her nostrils oh so heavenly. She ordered her usual and seeing that no one was behind her, she chit chatted a little with her ex lover. They talked about nothing and everything, yet it made Callie's day. Sure the doctor was feeling somewhat freed from her little talk with Arizona - and talking to Rachel certainly helped figure it all out as well. But it didn't mean she wanted to start again with the blonde. Sure, she had felt desirable again, not that Bette never made her feel desirable, quite to the contrary. Alas, revealing her past to Arizona and feeling that the blonde still wanted her only made Callie desire more. She was still very much physically attracted to her. Well Arizona is hot as fuck, duh.

It was deeper than that : for years, all Callie could envision was the day her ex girlfriend would finally comeback to her, and want her back. And now that she had it… it didn't fulfil her. So, maybe it was wrong of her, maybe she should have stayed around and tried to work things out with her past lover. Yet Bette was so… simple. She knew what Callie liked. Better yet, she knew how to please her. And that's just what happened. Although Callie couldn't help but feel guilty, she flirted with Bette. And it felt so good. So good that Bette wanted to take things upstairs. And Callie… she was a little unsure. But she hadn't say no. So they walked up to the elevator, and as they waited for the doors to open, Bette swiftly put her right hand in the small of Callie's back, pinching lightly on her right hip, knowing it was one of the brunette's weak spot. Feeling her knees give out, Callie almost ran into the empty elevator as soon as its doors opened.

"I thought you wanted more now…" Bette couldn't help but husk out to Callie. She pressed Callie's floor button, and waited for the doors to close to slam her hot doctor against the wall and start nipping at her neck. Callie whimpered and didn't have the time to answer, since her pager went off. She sighed and looked apologetically at Bette who, used to it by now, only winked at her and shoot her a small "Go save lives, rock star" and gently slapped her butt as she walked out of the elevator. Callie faked surprise, and chuckled before she ran off to her patient.

Xxx

When Callie realised whose room she was running to, her footsteps stopped altogether. She quickly picked up her pace, and started bossing around the nurses who were already there. She could hear Arizona and Timothy talking to her, but decided to ignore them. She didn't need to feel their pressuring looks, so she focused on what she could handle : the case in front of her. She almost completely forgot it was the Colonel whose life she had to fix. Quickly, Callie along two nurses ran up to the OR, leaving a couple Robbins dumbfounded behind her.

"What did you tell her?" Tim scolded his little sister under his breath.

Dumbfounded, the younger doctor scoffed. "Hm, nothing? What the fuck, Tim?" She couldn't believe what was happening. Was this starting all over again? She felt like a 16 year old all over again, taken back to the times her brother, her own flesh and blood, would pick her girlfriend's side when they would fight - which happened not that often, but enough for it to annoy the hell out of Arizona. Bile rising up her throat, she decided it was best to walk away. She felt like punching a wall, but decided against it. No need losing your licence over this.

Her walking brought her down to the nearing park. She sat down on a bench and put her head between her hands. She couldn't help but ask herself how she managed to mess up so bad. Sure, it wasn't her fault in the end, Callie should have explained herself better. No, scratch that : it is my fault, I did not even let her speak before making my mind up, and shutting her out altogether…

She sighed so hard, the woman next to her chuckled : « What's up, buttercup? » Arizona rose her head up so quickly she could see the stars. But seeing her mother next to her made her feel so safe for a second, she thought she could cry. She always reminded everyone around her how strong and brave she was. At such times, where people might have thought one would break down and cry in fear of losing the only person they've ever loved, Barbara Robbins was still everyone's rock. Sure she had her moments of fear, not being a doctor and all, but seeing it was no one else than Callie Torres operating on her husband, she thought they had pretty good rates of success. She might have broken her little girl's heart, but she knew Callie Torres was a darn good doctor, if the fact that she was a Head of her Department was not indication enough, she had seen how smoothly the oh so risky procedure her husband went under had gone.

"Momma..." she whispered under her breath. She quickly rushed into the embrace the older woman offered her. Oh how good it felt. It's like I'm a teen getting over her first heartbreak all over again! Well, it's kind of what it is… Callie Torres was the love of my life. No scratch that, I think she still is….

"Oh babygirl! I know you love her" she loved that her daughter would still crawl into her embrace. It had not been the same since she had left for college. When Tim had always been a Momma's boy, even once he left for training, Arizona had changed and grown up way too quickly to her liking. She loved soothing her, and being there for her. Although she was probably to blame for their dysfunctional relationship as well.

"You're right mom. She was… my best friend, first and foremost. We used to get into so much trouble, do you remember?"

Flashback

"Kids! Get down here!" Barbara yelled at the kids. She only heard giggles and loud steps. The steps were Tim and Teddy's who were running down the stairs and the giggles… well they were probably Callie and Arizona's. Who did not seem to budge down.

"Girls! Tim is going to eat the whole apple pie without you" Barbara yelled a second time.

Meanwhile, Callie and Arizona were heavily making out upstairs. "Babe… we should head downstairs…" Callie tried to convince her girlfriend. "Hmm… if you keep kissing my neck like that we won't be able to leave this bed anytime soon" she groaned out.

"Sounds good to me…" the blonde whispered into her girlfriend's ear. "I don't need mom's apple pie when I could eat you" she winked at her.

Callie just roared with laughter "That was so cheesy… even for you, Miss pink hair don't care" she pecked her lips one last time. "Come on. Let's go have your mom's famous apple pie!" They both rolled down the stairs.

"Oh my god! Callie! Are you okay?" Barbara exclaimed as soon as she sat down at the table.

"Yeah why" Callie self consciously answered.

"Your neck!" Barbara smirked when the brunette started blushing profusely while Tim and Teddy were laughing at her expense. She cut a big slice a put it in front of her daughter. "Here. You seemed hungry baby girl" It was Arizona's turn to bob her head down and turning red hearing her mother laugh and muttering "kids nowadays".

Xxx

Arizona had enough. She needed to clear the air with Leah and make her hear her out, like yesterday.


	10. Chapter 10

Callie was wheeling Daniel back into his room. She saw her old best friend standing inside with his mother. “So, he’s going to be sedated for a couple days at least. But everything went well! I’m quite optimistic about his recovery“ the orthopaedic surgeon tried to smile warmly to the duo in front of her. She was wondering where Arizona went.

The operation was a success. _Of course_ , Callie wanted to say to Arizona. She was the best at her job. And having someone who had never even bothered to watch a single of her surgery doubted really irked her. Not one she knew of, at least.

“Why does he need the sedation? How will we know if he’ll ever wake up?“ Barbara worriedly asked.

“Don’t worry Momma. It’s completely normal after such an invasive surgery. Dad’s body was put under a lot of stress over the past 48 hours. He needs as much rest as he can get. Especially if we want him to start therapy soon“ Tim started explaining.

“Well, Timothy Daniel Robbins, if you don’t mind now. I wanted to hear from his doctor“ Barbara smiled softly at Callie. She always had a soft spot for the brunette’s heart of gold. “So Callie!“ she asked with deep gratitude emanating from her voice. “He will be okay?“

“Yes Mrs Robbins. He’ll be just fine. Like T said“ she added jokingly. Usually, a nurse would be rolling the patients into the room after surgery but she too felt the need to be reassured about Colonel Robbins’ wellbeing. He was more of a father to her than Carlos Torres had ever been. Her relationship with the Torres patriarch had never been the same. If he was trying to be present in hers and Sofia’s lives for the better part of his granddaughter’s life, and Sofia loved him, some things just couldn’t be fixed. Callie let her mind wander to the many, many times her father had belittled her life “choices“. _If it was a choice, I wouldn’t have chosen to be completely and utterly ostracised from my own family_ , she huffed. Seeing the two blondes in the room staring at her like she’d grown a third eye, she chose to excuse herself out of the room.

“Now if you’ll let me… I’m going to catch some much needed shut-eye“ she awkwardly patted her patients shoulder before leaving the room. She stumbled into the first on call room available and closed the door quickly. She pressed herself against it and started letting the tears fall freely. She felt her knees give out when she heard a voice say “Shh“. Realising she wasn’t alone, she excused herself and hurriedly opened the door “I’m sorry… I’m sorry I didn’t see anything“ she mumbled through the tears. But before closing the door, she crossed eyes with her ex and her girlfriend… who she thought weren’t together anymore. _Great, just what I needed._ Arizona had her hand on Leah’s mouth, looking like she was the one shushing her. Leah looked- well to be honest, Callie didn’t even bother looking at her. She thought the two were done.

Callie didn’t know why this hurt so much. Just this morning, she was the one talking to Bette, and telling herself she didn’t feel anything in the blonde’s arms the other night. Now, she knew she was probably lying to herself. Bette was fun. Bette knew her. Bette was, like Callie had done so many times in the past, a safe bet. Arizona made her… feels things. Not that Bette didn’t, but Arizona? She had the power to break her, if she wanted. She already had.

“Callie! It’s not what you think“ Arizona tried running after her.“Callie! Dammit! Will you stop and listen to me please?“ She finally grabbed her by the arm. “I can’t talk right now Arizona. You do whatever you want… with whomever you want. I’m in no position to judge you, trust me. But I cannot fucking talk to you right now“ The Latina all but growled at her ex.

“YOU PROMISED ME!“ Arizona yelled through the hallways of the hospital not caring who could hear her. “You fucking promised me, all those years ago, that we’d have this amazing life together. And for so long, I thought, that I’d never have that again. Now… I’m here. And you’re here. So you’re not walking away now. I didn’t fight for our relationship then but I sure as hell will now!“ She finished off more determined than ever.

Callie looked up at Arizona, her face tear strained. “Not in here. Follow me“ she ushered out. They got into another on call room seemingly empty. “So… are you still with Leah?“

“No! No, Cal. As a matter of fact… I was just telling her how we were over. I mean we already were, trust me, but I was telling her she needs to find her own place and move out from the apartment I’m renting and— trust me. We are over“ Arizona smiled at her ex who had started smirking. _She used to love when my rambling_ , Arizona remembered and lowered her head bashfully “I wanna see where we can go, the two of us… Together. I missed you. I missed having a best friend as my partner… in life and in crime“ Arizona reached out for her ex’s hand.

“We did have fun times together…“ Callie softly agreed.

_Flashback_

Seniors’ week was fast approaching and Tim kept trying to get the brunette to do some wild shit with her. “Come onnnn. K! you’re no fun“ he almost whined.

“Hey I wanna go to med school. I don’t want Columbia to take back their scholarship when I didn’t even get there yet. Plus, I don’t have time to plan to TP the math block or fish the bathroom, Timmy.“ She genuinely didn’t care about those pranks half her year was planning. If she had any free time after studying for finals, she would spend it with her girlfriend. Preferably into bed, and very much naked.

“Hey guys!“ Arizona announced overly perkily. Both Tim and Callie answered with a much gruffier “Hi“. Callie smiled at her and caressed her hand softly, then quickly putting it back into the pockets of her jeans. It’s not that they didn’t want people to know they were dating, but… high schoolers are cruel. Even in the late 90s. She couldn’t care less but her girlfriend still had a whole year here after she’d leave so she didn’t want to make things any harder on her. “Will you come over after class today, K?“ Tim asked, hoping to get some planning done. “Sorry T, I gotta study not plan your stupid pranks“ she huffed, annoyed he wouldn’t understand.

Callie really relied on her scholarship. Her dad had told her a few weeks ago that in the events she chose Arizona and her relationship over her family, Callie would never touch her trust fund and therefore have to pay for med school herself. Now the brunette knew she would still have to get a job to cover her basic needs once she got to New York, but being offered a full ride scholarship with a dorm on Campus, in the middle of New York, was pretty much her dream come true. There was no way a stupid prank would put that in jeopardy and she really wished Tim would see that. Arizona did. She only looked at her girlfriend lovingly and smiled at her, murmuring “he will understand“ once Tim left in a hurry. “He’s just sad, too, to see you leave“ the blonde smiled softly. “Hey! I have a plan. How about… girls night tonight? But with Tim“ she squealed.

Callie shook her head in amusement at her girlfriend’s antics. “Sure, girls night with Timbo. I gotta get up early to study before maths club tomorrow morning though“ she reluctantly agreed.

“Come on Cal! Live a little. Mom and Dad are away for dinner but they’ll be back around midnight probably. You’ll be in bed soon enough“ Arizona winked at her. “Wait for me in the quad before leaving?“ She asked regretfully the brunette when the bell rang.

Callie only nodded and headed to study hall. And fun they had that night. They did Tim’s makeup and dressed him up. They laughed till their stomach hurt and went to bed all together, cuddled up in the Robbins basement for the last time, forever, without even knowing so.

Xxx

“So. First things first we have to talk about… basic stuff. What do you say, we go get a coffee, huh? Don’t wanna think about how many people had sex on those cots….“ Arizona stood up from the bed as soon as she heard Callie talk about that. “Yikessss. Cooties. Ew. Ew. Ewww. Callieee why didn’t you tell me sooner?“ she whined. The Ortho surgeon could laugh heartily. _Yup, she’s still the gayest of gay_. _Lesbianic_ , as she’d say one night they had gotten high together…. _A long time ago_ , she reminded herself.

The two of them stopped at the coffee cart on their way out and decide to buy some coffee. _Thankfully_ , Bette wasn’t working at the moment. Callie felt bad for not setting the barista straight after her night with Arizona. Callie grabbed her triple Americano and the blonde’s Latte and paid for it. She tipped the girl who was serving them and wished her a good day before joining Arizona who had already made her way outside when Callie suggested she grabbed them their coffee.

“So… Can I please talk first?“ Arizona pleaded. Seeing Callie nod, the blonde took a big gulp of her coffee. “So. First of all, I want to apologise Callie. I’m sorry for the way I acted back then, but we were young, and reckless. And if one thing is sure, it’s that we wouldn’t have made it anyways back then. I went to Hopkins, which, sure, was closer than lets say Stanford to Columbia but still, we had to live a little. I don’t know anyone who is still dating their high school sweetheart and we both have come out as better persons because of the heartache we endured.“ Arizona looked up from her cup of coffee into Callie’s eyes, who seemed confused as ever.

“Why are we talking about that? I know that. I thought we were past that…“ Callie started to get irritated. Suddenly Arizona wanted to bring all of this back up? “What I’m upset about is you doubting my abilities as a surgeon because you thought we were fighting when you hadn’t even bothered watching a single one of my surgery or reading over my suggestion“ she coldly stated.

Arizona took in a big breath and started again “I just… I know how you can get overemotional Callie and I thought it best to… let someone else operate on my dying father“ Arizona didn’t understand Callie’s point of view. In their lines of work, doctors had diverging opinions all the time. This wasn’t a problem. “You do not know me anymore Arizona. That’s the thing. The Arizona I knew would have never undermined me in front of my peers or my patients and the Arizona I knew wouldn’t kiss her girlfriend right after kissing me and telling me she wanted to started again. You see, we might think we know each other. But we don’t anymore. You don’t know me… You know of what happened to me, but you don’t know how it changed me, to my core“ Seeing the pity in her ex’s eyes, Callie could only continue. “Now I’m not even talking about my… agression. I’m simply talking about my whole life. My body has changed. Raising Sofia, juggling career and motherhood, my friends, losing my family. And my agression too, of course.“ Arizona silently nodded.

It was true, she had changed too. She wasn’t perky. At least not all of the time. She had a darker, broodier side. But with Callie, everything felt simpler. “You are right, Callie. We have changed. And — for a long time, I thought that what we had was special. Some kind of teenage love story. Then, I thought, you know, with time, I started idealising what we had, thinking no relationship - no person could make me feel like that. But… in just one night. One evening spent kissing you, not even… you know“ she bashed her head shamefully, getting a little embarrassed “I felt more alive than in the past 17 years, Callie. And, I think… I think it’s a beautiful thing. I think we should fight for it.“ She reached for Callie’s hand and tangled their fingers. The simple touch made her insides ignite in excitement. There was no way Callie didn’t feel this too. She knew the brunette shivered at the touch.

Callie wanted to agree, because she kind of wanted to learn to know the beautiful Arizona Leigh Robbins again. She had never met anyone quite like her, over the years. And they had worked well in their relationship in the past. So, Callie had an idea. “Arizona Leigh Robbins… will you go on a date with me?“

Arizona looked at Callie like she’d grown a third eye, before chuckling. “Yes, yes Calliope. I’d love to.“

“Sweet! Do you like Italian?“


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hate me! lol. Enjoy the new chapter

"Wow. Someone's perky today" Teddy noted in faux annoyance. "What's gotten into your panties, McPerky?"

Arizona had sat down at the cafeteria table not even three minutes ago and people were already on her case. _Sigh, I would be such a bad undercover cop_. "Nothinggg" she answered with such innocence, one might have believed her had they not known her for the better part of her life. "Come on, Zona. I know you. Spill" Teddy tried the big guns.

"I can't Theodora. I'm sorry" Arizona knew Callie would kill her if she spilled anything. They had agreed to take it slow and they knew as soon as their friends even thought a reconciliation between was possible, they wouldn't hear the end of it. Little did she know… Callie had just told Teddy when she'd come over to hers last night. Though the dirty blonde wasn't about to tell her that, she had way too much fun making her old friend squirm.

"Hmm. So, you're going on a date, huh?" Teddy smirked while snacking on her carrot. "Interesting" she mumbled.

"What? H-How do you know?" Arizona was bright red. "Who told you?"

"Well… if it wasn't you?" Teddy supplied. "Who else?"

"Callie…" Arizona annoyingly stated. "I still can't get over the fact you two have kept touch over the years and we…" _haven't_ , she thought too loud. Teddy looked at her with a sad smile.

"I just— you reminded me of your brother so much. And Callie? She reached out and she needed all the support she could get. She really had it rough for a while. What matters is we're all here now, yeah?"

"Right" Arizona gulped and tried to take her mind off of things now. While she could understand why Callie would reach out to Teddy, she genuinely didn't understand why her old best fired couldn't stay in touch with her as well. It hurt, but she would never admit it to the dirty blonde next to her. She thought Teddy and Tim broke up _amicably_ \- at least as far as he told her. _Is there really ever such a thing_? She wondered.

Her pager blared through the silence of their table and she excused herself. _Good excuse_ , she thought. She couldn't face the cardio surgeon another second. She mumbled a goodbye before getting rid of her tray and walking down to the ER for a case that would, hopefully, keep her busy the rest of the afternoon.

Xxx

Meanwhile, Callie had the day off today. She decided to visit her sister after she had dropped off Sofia to school. She had reluctantly agreed that her daughter applied to Juilliard if she at least visited a couple other schools that would offer a great college program as well, so she could make an educated guess. The look on Sofia's face was priceless. The smaller Latina was exhilaratingly happy. So you could say her mother was, as well.

Callie made a pit stop to the usual florist on the way and decided she could buy some flowers for her date tonight as well. She couldn't remember many things about her ex, but she hoped she'd like the flowers she picked. Purple calla lilies : meaning passion, charm. She settled back into her car and drove off to the hospital.

She guessed most of her colleagues knew by now the situation of her family. It didn't mean she ignored the pity glares but she could deal with it. She was used to the pity - after her attack, after becoming a single mom, after being a proud bisexual.

She entered the room and noticed the sheets had been tucked back into the bed. Someone had been here. She knew her father was not in town or her would have at least asked to see Sofia. Addison sometimes passed in the room, during her break. Still, it seemed weird, her friends would have told her they'd come here.

She started narrating her last days to her sister and putting the flowers in some water when the machine beeped. She dropped everything and turned around, checking for her sisters stats and wondering if she had dreamed for a second. Just when she sighed, thinking she had dreamed, she realised her sister was moving her fingers. Like she tried to tell her something. Callie hurriedly pressed the button calling for a doctor and took her sister's hands.

"Aria. Can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you hear me." She softly asked her. Feeling a tiny, barely there squeeze of her hand, but a squeeze nonetheless, Callie ran out of the room, looking for Amelia. "Someone page Dr Shepherd please!" She yelled out.

"I'm sorry Doctor but she is in the OR" the nurse at the desk in the middle of the neuro wing explained. A couple nurses had already entered her sister's room and were examining her. "You don't understand! This is a miracle" she had tears springing down her face that she didn't even notice. "Just… page the other Shepherd then. It will do" she resigned.

Derek Shepherd was maybe in a dark phase lately, but he was still her friends, first and foremost. She could trust him with a regular checkup for now. She went back into the room and looked anxiously at the machines surrounding her sister, trying to decipher a slight change in her situation. A couple minutes later, Derek got here and started a regular neuro checkup. She could see in his face that he had nothing to give her. _Is he drunk? God_.

He seemed to be… off. She couldn't really point out why. Even worse than during him and Addie's breakup in Columbia - and that was a low point in his life.

"Sorry, Callie. Her reflexes are still the same… I don't know what happened but she isn't more responsive than before." Derek stated truthfully.

"O— o- okay" she stuttered out and ran out of the room.

Xxx

The rest of their days were uneventful. Callie had promised to pick up her blonde at the entrance of the hospital, so she dressed casually - like she'd told Arizona to, and walked across the street to the hospital. She had some time to kill so she picked up the book she was currently reading from her bag - an old habit she had developed when walking a baby Sofia, and let the Seattle sun poke her face. She didn't know how much time had passed before she felt darkness surround her book and her face. She looked up to see the oh so familiar blonde that had taken over her thoughts and dreams. She took in her appearance - dark blue jeans making her ass go POW and a see through white shirt, classy yet casual.

"Hi Calliope. Ready to go?" _For you, always_ , Callie thought but she stuck to shoving her book back into her purse and guiding the blonde to the small restaurant she had chosen. She almost squealed in delight when she felt the blonde's hand reaching out for hers. They held hand like it was the most natural thing to do. Callie usually wasn't one for public displays of affection, but the fact that Arizona wanted everyone to know she was hers by such an intimate gesture, made her stomach flutter. Butterflies?

"How was your day at the hospital?" Arizona didn't really know how to answer. She had heard about Aria's… condition. Amelia had been paged during their surgery but she couldn't just leave for a checkup. She had accompanied her friend to the room afterwards, hoping to see an all smile and awake Latina. Sadly this wasn't the scene they had gotten to. All that was left were some nurses doing the routine sponge bath talking about how the bad Shepherd hadn't even been able to confirm a diagnosis and Dr Torres had apparently punched him in the face. She knew it was just rumours but she was still worried about her date's state of mind tonight. So the blonde settled for a basic "Routine" as an answer.

Callie nodded. She started to feel anxious. _What if they had nothing in common anymore? What if her life was boring for the new hot Peds surgeon who had women lining up for her?_ She had heard the nurses. Half of them would bang her, most of the rest would marry her. She decided to take a big breath and enjoy their short walk to the small and familial restaurant she had picked for their first date.

Arizona didn't know what to expect when Calliope Torres had asked her on a date, but she knew this wasn't it. While it was true that the Callie she knew was always so down to earth, she had gotten used to fancy dates and restaurants to be wood lately. This place was tiny - perhaps five tables maximum could fit in the place. "I know it's not that big but I hope you still like Italian because they make the _best_ homemade pasta ever. It's fresh and they mostly do takeaway. Sofia loves it here" Callie rambled.

"It's perfect. I'm really glad you brought me somewhere special to you guys" Arizona earnestly stated.

Xxx

The girls settled at a table and ordered their food. They ate in confortable silence their appetisers along with the drinks they had ordered since neither of them planned to drive afterwards.

"So… tell me about your love life a little." Callie asked in genuine interest.

"Wow, diving right in huh?" Arizona chuckled half in embarrassment half in amazement. Callie Torres really was something else. "Well… to be honest, there is not much to tell. I dated here and there…" she could feel her own cheeks burn up at the white lie she was telling both herself and her date. "Nothing too important to mention" she finished off with a shrug.

"Hmm…" Callie acquiesced. She too hadn't had much going on but she couldn't really believe a beautiful blonde like the woman in front of her didn't have any relationship in almost twenty years. "No relationship at all?" Callie asked playing dumb. "I mean you moved across the country for Leah so she must have been pretty special right?"

"No no no no no, I moved all the way across the country to work with my brother. Leah just… happened to follow me here" she pressed.

"I just don't really get your relationship I guess…" the brunette replied honestly. She felt this might be a sore subject for the blonde, but decided to go on anyway.

"Like no one understands your relationship with Mark" the blonde snarled back. Seeing the Latina retreat herself back into her shelf, she quickly apologised "I didn't mean that… I'm so—"

"No. Don't do that. Don't apologise when you don't mean it." Callie snapped. She was sick of it. "I've had enough of you coming here and judging my life, my kid, and my family. I don't owe you shit" the brunette exclaimed and stood up quickly, leaving a dumbfounded Arizona behind.

Callie didn't feel the tears hot on her cheeks, only stopping to pay Mario, the kind owner of the family restaurant she'd just made a fool to bring her date to. She hoped Sofia wouldn't ask for their pasta soon. She only wanted to run and hide. Callie didn't know where to go anymore. As she started to run as far away from the restaurant, she realised she was going in the opposite direction than her apartment. She didn't want to go home tonight. She would be alone - Sofia had asked to stay at Mark and Lexie's, which would just remind of her failed attempt at dating.

This was precisely why she hadn't gone on a date in almost twenty years. She knew no one would understand her lifestyle. Did she want to see Mark across the hall every morning? No. The guy had no problem building a life for himself despite his being a dad already. She didn't have this privilege. Most people didn't want to date someone who already had a kid. People her age anyway. They all wanted to build a family.

The funny thing was, she genuinely thought Arizona and Sofia got along well. The two laughed along like nobody's business. They had even ganged up on her. She acted like she was pouting but in reality, she had laughed more that evening than in a long time.

Unconsciously, her feet had brought her to the park she had walked Sofia so much when she was just a baby. She could see couples having a walk and a group of teenagers hanging out. She sat down on a bench not too far from the groups. She let her mind wander to her past, but before she could have a full panic attack, got out her phone and ignored all the missed notifications before going straight to the contact she needed to call. _Rachel_.

Xxx

In the meantime, Arizona was left dumbfounded at the restaurant table. She was twirling around with the fork in her plate. She knew as soon as she decided to step out of the restaurant, she had to make a move. Go for Callie or go home. If she chose the latter, she didn't know what would be left of chances for their relationship.

Her head snapped up when the old man, who she assumed was the owner of the place, sat down in front of her. He started off in a thick Italian accent. "You must be very special for Doctor Torres to bring you here" he stated, knowing it was quite obvious but feeling like the blonde may not be aware of that. "The only person I see her bring here is Miss Sofia" he added. Arizona only nodded. "Do you know how I met your friend?" Seeing the blonde only nodded once again, he began with his story. "Well see my wife back in the kitchen? She broke her hip during a very bad fall a few years back. Now it's not that we don't pay taxes in this country, but with the little money we make, we send most of it back to my parents - they live in Sicily, and they have no retirement. So, we didn't have insurance. Arriving at the hospital, Dr Torres made sure she could get the best treatment and my wife's surgery was in the pro-bono quota put in place by the hospital. Now, I didn't understand most of the paperwork but Dr Torres assured us she had grown up around lawyers and businessmen and made sure we weren't going to be broke afterwards. Now I haven't lots of doctors, but I have never seen one human as compassionate and trustworthy as her." He was getting emotional. "She brought you here and you disrespected her family?" He saw the blonde's eyes widen at his insinuation.

"Sir, without any disrespect, this is none of your businnes—" Arizona tried her best to remain calm.

"He has never been here. I only know about him because of Miss Sofia — _la piccola_ sure is a chatterbox" he chuckled. "But she brought you here" he finished off and got up. " _Un tiramisù_ " he put in front of the blonde. "On the house".

Sometimes, people needed a push from a stranger, someone to make them realise what they've been looking for all their life is right in front of them.

Xxx

After a good talk with her psychiatrist and an appointment made for the following week, Callie headed back to her apartment. She knew she had overreacted with Arizona earlier, but the blonde reminded her of everything that had gone wrong in her life. She loved her daughter with all she had, but she couldn't help but wonder where she'd be now if she hadn't gotten pregnant when she did.

Opening the door of her building, she took in the person that was in front her. It was her blonde, cheeks flushed from running probably. _She looks so hot_ , Callie thought.

"Calliope…" Arizona started. "I'm so sorry. I am in no way judging your family. I know you and Sloan aren't in a relationship…"

Callie cut her off. "I overreacted. It's just that it's… a touchy subject. Everyone from my past always judge why I slept with Mark, but… I had to. Or why I kept Sofia. Or—" the Latina realised, she didn't want to have this conversation here. "Come on up?" She suggested. Seeing Arizona acquiesce, they rode up the elevator. The silence was deafening. Callie almost jumped out of the elevator when the doors opened.

Once they got inside, she got them both a cup of coffee and motioned for Arizona to sit on the couch. "You see, after the rape, my old therapist had suggested I had sex again. With a guy that I trusted. So, naturally, I turned to Mark. And I really couldn't have asked for a better person. I'm not saying it was the best thing ever, but I needed it. I lived in fear and - I couldn't fear anymore. I had to move on" she tried explaining.

"What kind of- of psychiatrist suggests that? This is outrageous" Arizona really couldn't grasp it.

"Honestly… I don't even know. I think it was what I needed though." The Latina answered truthfully. "I had Sofia. It was the best and worst thing at the same time. She completely put me back together. I was determined to be the mother I never had for her. Be present and be loving" she continued. "Sadly it also meant there was no reconciliation possible with my family, beside Aria who loved Sofia unconditionally. My dad only is part of Sofia's life today, which I'm still happy about cause Mark's parents both died when he was a kid so she still had a grandparent…"

Arizona smiled sadly. She really had it easy on the family front next to Callie. It made her remember to be more grateful to her parents. "I'm so sorry… you deserve a father in your life as much as Sofia a grandfather…" the blonde smiled softly. She knew how much Callie was a Daddy's girl before everything went to shits, whereas she was more of a mommy's girl - she could spend her whole Sunday afternoon catching up on town's gossip with her Mum. She didn't know how she would deal if her mother had ever alienated her.

"You don't have to look at me like I'm 16 again. I told you, we've changed. I grieved my parents' absence from my life a long time ago" she trailed off "…however, my family now - Sofia and even Mark, is something I'm proud of. And I know you didn't mean nothing, you were defending yourself, but... Mark is family. Sofia is my literal blood. If you can't deal with that, you shouldn't try to get with me anymore" she sadly ended.

"No no - I loved talking to Sofia. I just - I never envisioned myself having kids. I always wanted - you know - a partner in life. Maybe a dog. A couple chicken" Arizona was rambling. "But now… I see you. And you already have it all. And - I want that. And so much more. I can't help but feel like you've done it all without me. And - _God_ , I know it's so early, because we haven't even finished our first date, but Callie, you make me want to be a _wife_. And a _mother_ to your children. So I got defensive because I couldn't help but wonder. Is this something you want too?" She asked almost shyly.

"There is nothing I've ever wanted more, Az" Callie jumped at her lips. She didn't know if she was dreaming or not. Their kiss was powerful and hard. It made her insides tingle. She had nowhere else she'd rather be.

"Promise?" Arizona asked panting when they broke off their kiss.

"Pinky promise" Callie responded in a chuckle, her forehead against the blonde.


	12. Chapter 12

Arizona had stayed over last night. No funny business had been Callie’s only condition, and Arizona had quickly agreed. After some heavy making out, they had cuddled up into bed and Arizona could safely say this was her best night’s sleep in a long time. 

When she woke up, she jumped off the bed quietly and decided to put on a pot of coffee.

“You cozy in my kitchen I see…“ a voice mumbled and made Arizona jump. “Jesus! You nearly killed me“ the blonde shrieked. 

“Chill, it’s just me. You’re the stranger in my house…“ Sofia was rummaging through the drawers of the kitchen. She settled on a bowl of cereals. They made small talk and laughed at Callie’s antics. 

Callie woke up to giggling sounds in her kitchen and jumped out of bed. She passed her hand in her hair and hurried out of her room to check on the limbo in her flat. The sight made her smile. It was her two favorite girls laughing and eating breakfast like they’d known each other all their life. They were seating next to each other on the kitchen’s bar so she went behind her blonde to hug her. “Hmm good morning Az“ the blonde only smiled and melted into the hug. She turned around on her stool and looked into the brunette’s eyes. “Good morning beautiful“ she grabbed Callie by her sleeping tee-shirt. 

“Urgh, do you have to be so mushy this early in the morning“ Sofia cheekily said, her eyes twinkling in mischief. Callie laughed throatily in response. 

“I made you coffee babe“ the blonde husked out in her ear. “Hmm what I like to hear in the morning. Thank you!“ Callie leaned into her girl to kiss her thank you but Mark decided on this moment to barge through the apartment door.

“Cal! Work out time! Chop chop!“ he clapped his hand. Callie mumbled for him to shut up and felt her cheeks flush. “Do you guys always work out in the morning? I used to run before, I could pick it back up with you guys!“ Arizona excitedly proposed. 

“Hmm come on Blondie you don’t need to work out. Plus I’m just training Cal here, she said…“ Mark was cut off by Callie’s hand on his mouth. 

“I just - I’d just slow you down, babe. You know me, I’m not sporty“ the Latina tried to wave off. Arizona was suspicious but let it slide for now. Callie tried for a few minutes to get Mark to leave her alone for this morning only but seeing him insist, she went to change and pecked Arizona goodbye. “Feel free to stay however much longer you feel like“ she proposed. Arizona nodded and waved off Mark.

She turned to Sofia who was getting ready for school apparently “Have they been doing for long?“ She couldn’t help but pry. Sofia smirked, seeing the jealousy on the blonde’s face but decided to stick to the truth. 

“Not that long. Mom said once she wanted to lose some baby weight - yeah I’m the baby - and Dad just said he could train her. I think they like catching up during this time on their life.“ Sofia explained with a laugh.

“Oh? Mark’s life is going…?“ Arizona tried to sound completely uninterested but she was failing miserably. She felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. She could just ask her ex but she couldn’t help this irrational feeling at the bottom of her pit. She had never wanted kids before but seeing Callie’s very own daughter, full of fiery and spike just like the younger Latina she’d once known made her uterus scream. She wanted to experience everything with Callie. Realising this, she suddenly felt sick.

“Super well I guess. He’s going to ask Lexie to move in I think“ Sofia shrugged it off. She saw the blonde’s face relax, probably as she realised her opponent was down and in a serious relationship. “He wants to get married, eventually more kids and… a real family, I guess….“ The younger Latina explained, the look on her face unreadable for the blonde.

“Ohh Lexie Grey?“ Arizona was giddy again. But why didn’t they want me to come then? She decided to go make use of Callie’s bathroom since she told her she could stay. 

Xxx

She had just finished her hot shower and was dressing back into the clothes she had worn last night to her date with the brunette. This is awful, it looks like I’m doing the walk of shame without even getting laid! Not that sleeping with Callie would be a shame, but…

Her train of thought was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of Callie’s full belly laughter. She saw two heads whip to her direction as she opened the door of Callie’s bedroom. “Hi you guys! Did you have fun?“ She may have sound a bit too perky for them to believe she was being truthful. Even for me.

“Torres still needs some more training… if you see what I mean“ Mark snickered. Callie just rolled her eyes and pecked Arizona’s lips. “Hi babe… I see you showered without me“ she pouted. 

“Well I need to get going to the hospital“ Arizona shrugged. “Plus I want us to at least go out on a date before anything really happens…“ she trailed off. Callie just smiled at her in understanding. “Of course. Have a good day, Az“ she kissed her. 

Arizona grabbed her purse and headed for the door. She sighed in confusion. Why must everything be so difficult for them?

Xxx

As soon as the door had closed, Callie turned to Mark. “You think she doesn’t like me anymore? I mean I get it… I had a kid. She still has the same body of this seventeen year old cheerleader…“ Callie could feel her skin crawl. She was going to be sick. 

“Now what are you talking about? C’mon Torres. You got this smoking hot Latina thing going on. I mean you always rocked this bod! She just said she needed to take it slow which is a good thing considered how many times you two freaked out before this even started…“ Mark tried to rationalise. 

“Wow...” the brunette whistled, “when did you become so smart Marcus?“ She tried to laugh it off. She knew deep down he was right. They were different people now, they should take it slow. She just really tried not to let her own anxieties taking over her sanity. She suddenly had a nagging feeling… she remembered the first time she and Arizona had made love, way back in high school.

Flashback

“Are you sure Cal? We can wait some more if you’re not ready“, Arizona reassured her girlfriend for the umpteenth time that night.

It had been a few weeks of dating for Callie and Arizona and a few more months of a relationship. Things between them felt easy. They were best friends first and foremost. Everyone around them were always pressuring them though and Arizona, who’d already had girlfriends in the past, knew how big of a step this could be.

“I told you… I’m sure. I’m just… nervous, I guess“ Callie fumbled with her hands on her lap. “Sorry” she finished off embarrassed. 

“Hey hey look at me baby. You. Are. Great“ she took Callie’s chin up. “I love you…“

Something changed inside Callie. Never had someone looked at her with such adoration. “I really wanna do this. With you. I love you so much…“ the brunette bashfully stated. 

“I love you more baby” Arizona grinned wickedly and resumed her hand’s path between the brunette’s breasts. As she kissed her passionately, Callie tentatively let her hands wonder down Arizona’s back for the first time. The way the blonde moaned when -

Xxx

“Your pager!” Mark clapped his fingers in front of Callie, making her jump out of her reverie. 

Duty calls.

Xxx

Arizona was skipping to lunch. Just thinking about the queue awaiting her in the cafeteria, made her even hungrier. It wasn’t that she skipped breakfast… but successful surgeries always made her even hungrier. Arriving to the cafeteria, she picked the biggest and yummiest looking burger with fries and a milkshake. Yum.

Seeing her brother and Teddy sitting together at a table motioning for her to join them, she quickly made her way through and went to sit with them. “Hey guys!“ she chirped happily. As soon as she was sitting, she dove into her food. She only half listened to the two dirty blonds’ conversation, shooing away Tim’s hand every time he wanted to pick fries off her plate. “Have you seen Callie? We said we’d meet for lunch this morning…“ Arizona suddenly said. 

“She was pulled into an emergency surgery sometime around 11 I guess. Should be here soon“ Tim muffled with a mouth full. He was always the one working in closer relation with her since he was in Trauma and she was in Ortho - both departments having cases overlapping many times.

“So… how did the first date go? You guys sealed the deal since you “saw her this morning“?“ Teddy asked knowingly.

Arizona simply blushed. “It’s not what you guys think…“ she then went on to tell them how they fought during their date, which simply made her realize how silly it even was in the first place. Then, she told them, not without pride, she didn’t even need them to put her own feelings aside and go talk it out with Callie, to which neither was impressed... “C’mon! I went back to her place and we legit talked...” she gave them her best dimpled smile.

“Did you talk or just bone” Tim crassly asked to which Teddy only snorted. Arizona only blushed.

She answered beet red “we did not... bone...“ She whispered, adding a lighter “thank you very much”. “Not that I don’t want to. But she said we’ve changed and... she’s right. We have” she simply shrugged.

“Hmm” Tim hummed, not completely satisfied with his sister’s answer. “You two have always been the worst at communicating your issues though“ he noted.

“True!“ Teddy chimed in. “Remember that time in high school you assumed she cheated on you?“ 

“Hey! That’s so unfair. We were young and reckless back then…“ Arizona lamely tried to fight them off but she knew deep down they were right.

“Come on, Flagstaff. You’ve never really changed. Look at your relationship with Leah…“ Tim pointed out. Ugh, she really hated her brother sometimes. “You know I’m right. If you guys want to make it work this time… Gotta learn to communicate“ he was quite proud of his spiel so far. “And you have to woo your woman… don’t assume she’ll want you ‘cause you used to date back in the days. This doesn’t mean anything now!“

“Callie’s right. You’ve changed.“ Teddy reinforced. “So… start over. Date as if you’ve never been together before! Speaking of the devil…“

Arizona couldn’t answer to them since Callie was now fast approaching their tables. She settled on a quiet “you guys are right, thank you“ and gave her best smile to Callie who was on her way over. The smile she got in response was dazzling. If she ever found the young and nerdy Calliope Torres beautiful, she was sure she had never felt such profound adoration for another human like Dr. Callie Torres - a strong, badass, fierce, proud woman.

So, listening to their friends talk with an ecstatic brunette who had apparently just rocked her surgery, she decided she was going to take her brother’s advice, this once. She was going to woo her girl. Because she deserved it. 

She got out her phone, not wanting to ask this in front of everyone and texted her. She drafted : Calliope Torres, will you go out on a proper date with me this Friday?

Her phone beeped and Callie immediately picked it up. She read the message and grinned, sure she was busted from miles away because only one person ever made her smile like this. Seeing the blonde looking expectantly at her, the brunette winked at her. She got her answer : Pick me up at 7.

Now, Arizona was onto planning mode.


	13. Date night

“Hi. You’re early…“ Callie said opening her door. 

“And you’re ready! Perfect“ Arizona said with her signature dimpled smile. Callie just tilted her head. She thanked God she remembered Arizona’s stance on punctality. “Shall we?“ The blonde brought her out of her mind’s rambling.

Callie simply nodded and made her way out of her apartment. She followed Arizona to her car. “So, where are you taking me?“ She innocently asked. 

“You’ll see, Cal“ Arizona winked at her. “Get ready for your pants to fall off Miss Torres…“ she added with a hint of teasing in her voice. Callie shivered at the tone in the blonde’s voice. She couldn’t possibly get turned on by a simple statement, could she?

“I think, when it comes to you, I was born ready“ Callie quietly admitted. Arizona’s heart soared at the admission. She might not be the only one feeling this type of way in the end. 

The car geared up, Arizona decided to put on some old music. She had her phone on the aux and put on the playlist that definitely reminded her of the brunette on the passenger’s seat. As soon as the guitar riff started, Callie clapped excitedly. “It’s been forever since I listened to GNR“ the brunette admitted, making Arizona wonder if it was because it reminded Callie of herself.

She’s got a smile, that it seems to me   
Reminds me of childhood memories  
Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky (Sky)  
Now and then when I see her face she takes me away to that special place  
And if I stare too long, I’d probably break down and cry (Cry)

Woah-oh-oh Sweet Child O’mine!  
Woah-oh-oh-oh Sweet Love O’ mine!

During the musical break, both Callie and Arizona turned to look into each other’s eyes. One could think Callie would be thinking about her daughter, Sofia’s eyes, but listening to this song twenty years later with the love of her life in her cade made her think about possible blue eyed blonde haired babies. She had goosebumps at the thought. Callie made a mental note to ask the blonde how she felt about a possible future.

They both nodded along, Callie usually bolting out singing and Arizona wondering what she did to deserve feeling like this. She had never treated women with disrespect, quite the contrary. But she wasn’t proud of the way things worked out between Leah and herself in the end. She felt she used her, in a way, to numb the pain she was feeling in her heart. The pain Callie left in her heart twenty years ago. The pain that was only due to her own stubbornness…

“We’re here!“ Arizona suddenly realised and made Callie jumped. 

Callie looked around, but her eyes couldn’t see anything in the dark. It was late fall in Seattle and the sun was setting earlier every day. She was trying to maintain an excited composure. “Yay…?“ Callie tried to cheer. Arizona tilted her way in the cutest way she had always had. 

“Come on! It’ll be fun. And supeeer romantic“ the blonde winked at her date. Callie stepped out of the car into the… muddy area. She took a look around and could only see trees for days. “I really pulled all the stops…“

“Hmm“ Callie hummed, pecking lightly pink lips. “I’m sure I’ll love every minute I get to spend with you“ she assured her date. Arizona smiled and leaned into the kiss a second time “You know, a lady doesn’t kiss on the first date… Now come on“ she ushered them to the back of the car and took out a basket and a checkered blanket. 

“Ohhh are we going for a picnic?“ Callie asked definitely more excited than a few seconds ago. Arizona gave her a tight nod with a dimpled smile, seeing her plan had worked and happy Callie seemed to like the idea. “I’ve never been to one! Except taking Sofia’s juice box to the park when she was little“ Callie gushed. “Sorry, bad idea to speak about kid on a first date, huh?“ She realised feeling kind of embarrassed.

“I was only joking before about this first date talk, Calliope. Your kid seems smart and we laughed a lot the other morning. I don’t want you to… filter what you have to say or not around me. Now come on“ she led them to the spot Tim had prepared for them. 

Both of their jaws dropped at the sight. Tim had to have spent at least an hour lighting all those candles. She knew he was a real romantic and loved to woo the pants off the ladies, so asking him for help was a done deal. She knew he would do her right but even she had to admit this was the perfect setting.

Arizona pulled on Callie’s hand and put down the picnic blanket. She had wanted this for ages - someone to take out on dates and get close with. Not only physically but first and foremost emotionally. Sure, she had dated a lot these past years, but she never seemed to connect with the women she met. Probably because she had a certain brunette on her mind…

“This looks amazing Az!“ Callie’s voice shook her out of her reverie. They both had sat down and Callie was taking out the plates of the basket since Arizona seemed to preoccupied.

“I made these this morning“ she said pointing to the snacks Callie was pointing. “I remembered how much you liked them when Momma made it and asked her the recipe. She wanted to help but I told her to stay with Dad in the hospital“ Arizona explained, feeling her cheeks flush at the admission. 

“Wow, I can’t believe you remember. Thank you so much“ Callie was so happy she could kiss Arizona right there… or do something way less appropriate, but settled on grabbing her hand and giving her cheek a kiss. She then put her lips on the blonde’s lobe and murmured a low “I missed you so bad“ into her ear, making Arizona shiver almost immediately. The air between them was filled with pure, raw sexual tension like neither had ever felt. 

Arizona grabbed a piece of the salmon and zucchini appetiser and looked at Callie. “Come and eat it“ she challenged her. She had wanted to tease Callie but quickly came to realise she was the one who was going to be teased. She felt plump lips wrap around her fingers. As soon as she wanted to take out her fingers — she feared she was going to melt into the puddle that was forming between her legs, the Latina locked her fingers in her mouth and licked them clean. “Fuck,“ Arizona whimpered. “You are so… so hot, Calliope“ she put a strand of jet-black hair behind her date’s ear. Callie only bashfully looked away. “What? You don’t believe me?“ She asked in a light voice. When she realised Callie genuinely didn’t believe her, she furrowed her brows together.

“Calliope… you are so amazingly beautiful. Words cannot describe how awe struck I am every time I see you. Tonight when I picked you up, I didn’t even understand how you were my date tonight“ she didn’t know how to convey her feelings much clearer than this.

“It’s just… you’re still the same person. You haven’t changed much - I mean your traits did but you’re still this hot and fit sporty girl while I’m… me. Thirty-four year old, mother of a seventeen year old teenager heading off to college next year. I’ve started back training with Mark but sometimes I feel like I could never compete with you…“ Callie admitted, almost shyly but at the same time feeling like the weight of the world was lifted off her shoulders. 

“You never have to compete with me! We’re not one against the other but you and I, we’re a team, we’re together“ Arizona lifted her date’s chin and stared into brown eyes. “Plus, you never have to train for me. I was wondering what that was about… it just felt weird, like it was something special between you guys that I couldn’t be a part of and I didn’t like that feeling…“ Arizona quietly revealed. 

“Az, there’s nothing between me and Mark. You gotta believe that“ Callie forcefully stated. “I just… he’s been my rock through a lot of really tough times but he’s got a family and he’s moving on. Apparently Lexie’s pregnant so, they’ve got each other.“ She explained.

“Cal you don’t have to explain yourself to me. We’re nowhere near there yet…“ Arizona tried to be understanding, but something about Callie’s relationship with Mark rubbed her the wrong way. 

“I feel like I do though. I intend on keeping you in my life for a while and therefore, feel like you deserve an explanation. See, Mark and I… we were always there for each other. During college, he was going through some hard times — his mother was an alcoholic and he had already lost his father to cancer when he was a preteen. I was… recovering from the attack.“ Callie gulped. “Wow, really not where I thought this date was going to go, but we have to get this out of the way, right? You deserve this“ seeing Arizona nod, Callie continued. “We were both… complete wrecks. His mom died and then, my therapist at the time suggested I found a guy I trusted and had sex with him. I guess so I could get over my genuine fear of men — Mark was the only guy I really trusted, and to my damaged 18 year old self, it seemed like a good idea. And I guess it was. He was gentle and loving — Addie always said he loved me back then but I was too engrossed in my own recovery to be with anyone. Then I got pregnant even though we used protection and I guess the rest is history…“ Callie mumbled the last phrase, looking down at her hands.

“Calliope, look at me“ Arizona took both of her date’s hands and made her look up into her eyes. “I’m glad you told me this. I understand your bond better now… Please tell me more about your pregnancy, yeah?“ Arizona urged gently. She felt this a was long overdue talk.

“Oh, hum, sure. So… I realised I was pregnant quite late into my second year of pre-med. I was a sophomore so you know how we like to celebrate during this year“ Arizona only chuckled, remembering some pretty epic parties thrown during her own sophomore year. “I was sick a lot and thought it was because I didn’t get enough sleep and was stressed out a lot. I realise now I stopped myself from a lot of celebrating because I was scared, for a while, of going out and being left alone at the end of a party. Addie, Mark and Derek always made sure someone stayed with me though“ she added, grateful for her amazing friends. “So… it was probably around Thanksgiving Break. Addie had gone back home and so had Derek, leaving only Mark and I as usual in the city. We worked a lot and saw each other the rest of the time. He was the one who put two and two together - and suggested I take a test. Turned out positive. I was quite pregnant already - almost five months. I had taken some weight but thought nothing about it, you know with the freshman fifteen and all. In my mind we just had sex once… Now I knew it sufficed but still. It was no option for me…“

“I get that“ Arizona gently offered.

“For so long I didn’t know what to do. In my mind, there was no doubt that Sofia was my silver lining. I knew I wanted her, but I didn’t know how I would deal - would I be a good mother? Would I be able to provide for my baby? Become a doctor? My father didn’t really like that I was pregnant, but he didn’t give up on me. He offered to take us back home but I refused. So I took a semester off but still studied from home — soon enough, Sofia came into the world. I knew looking into her eyes it was all worth it. I loved her so much already. She was such a happy baby. It was like she knew I was struggling so much…“ Callie was smiling through the tears that had emerged in the corner of her eyes. 

Arizona was at loss. She wanted to convey to Callie how she wished she was there - to support her, and to love her. She was known to make the best speeches but this was special. For once in her life, she was speechless. “Would you do it again? If you had the choice“ she finally asked, breaking the silence that had fell around them. 

Callie was munching on some more appetisers and took a few seconds to finish swallowing her mouthful. “Yeah“ she finally let out. “I can’t see my life without her“ she added. “I did have a lot of support though - from my best friends, even my family. I just put Sofia and college first, all of the time. I only started putting myself up there a few years ago… What about you? Tell me about college and med school“ Callie prompted.

“Well… you know, quite boring story. I graduated from high school with honours and Lauren broke up with me to date Aaron, the quarterback… which I took quite hard. I didn’t care about her as much as I did you… but still. Every time I got in a relationship, I was left a bit smaller. So… I decided not to really get into relationships anymore. I had my way with girls… then we left off separately. I think I slept with more girls I could even remember in my freshman year alone. I was a mess really“ Arizona embarrassedly admitted. However, when she looked at her date, she saw no judgment in her eyes. The only thing that reflected in brown orbs was love and understanding and support.

“So… I navigated through college and graduated Summa Cum Laude. I was valedictorian and had to give this inspiring speech to my peers on our Graduation Day. However, I got up there, and all I could seem to see was faces of girls I’d hook up with… I realised this wasn’t what I wanted. So, I decided to change things around. But as soon as residency started and I was under pressure, I gave into my vices again. I was an intern sleeping with nurses at first, then fellow doctors. I always treated women with respect however so that… was not the issue. However, one day, one of the nurses - who was a psycho by the way, threatened me with a scalpel in the middle of surgery…“ Arizona paused looking at her partner, feeling almost bare at talking about her feelings so deeply.

Callie snorted. Only Arizona freaking Robbins she thought. 

Arizona snickered as well. “I know! I can tell you, the Chief was not happy. So I stopped for a while, completely cut it off. My mother suggested I might be a sex addict by the way -“

“—Barbara Robbins did not!“ Callie cut her off. She couldn’t contain her laughter anymore and was clutching at her stomach. 

“Oh she did alright. I realised I just love women. I did well without, I just prefer my life with sex in it. Then I met Leah who thought the world of me when I was promoted to attending… wait this sounds bad. I didn’t use her. I genuinely liked hanging out with her. She was finishing med school and volunteered at the hospital sometimes. I thought it was finally a way to date someone who was not a coworker, you know? Get out of my usual playing pool. Tim never liked her though. He never liked any of my girlfriends anyway… well (besides you, she thought)“ there was a blank in the blonde’s monologue. 

“I thought we were on the same page, me and her. Suddenly she was in love and ready to move across the country with me. I thought she wasn’t going to come to Seattle Grace because she was not accepted into the program but turns out, her uncle is on the board… Anyway, we are over now. She got it, I guess“ Arizona finished her tirade, looking into her wine glass. She took her finger and circled her glass with it. 

“Crazy how we used to look at the stars from the back of my car when we were seventeen huh? Who would have thought we’d be out here doing it again at almost forty years old…“ Callie broke the silence that had installed around them.

“You remember? I was afraid you’d forget and thought this was weird“ Arizona giggled like a schoolgirl. Which was the predominant feeling since the beginning of her night with Callie.

“Of course I do. We may be different now but I remember every sun set…“

Xxx

They were back in front of Callie’s door, where it had all begun several hours earlier. They were both yawning but neither wanted the night to end. They had already prolonged their time under the stars by cuddling under the blanket Arizona had brought and then making out in the back of the car like they used to twenty years ago.

“So… you brought me home before curfew, Miss Robbins?“ Callie joked. “I had the best time tonight. Thank you, Arizona“ she said sincerely this time.

“My pleasure, Calliope. Good night…“ she leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Sweet dreams“ she added into her date’s ear, making Callie shiver and Arizona chuckle at the obvious effect she had on her date. 

Callie opened her door and leaned into the doorway, turning around to check out Arizona leaving. The blonde had barely taken two steps when she turned back around “won’t you ask me on a second date?“

“Well… usually, you have to wait three days before asking the other on a second date, according to Sofia“ Callie’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment realising she had revealed she had to ask her teenage daughter for advice when it came to dating.

“Oh. Well I didn’t know“ Arizona shrugged. “Will you go out with me for breakfast Sunday morning?“ 

“Sure… see you then, Az“ Callie dreamily sighed. This was as good as life got.


	14. Chapter 14

“Moooom“ Sofia yelled through the apartment.

“Yes honey?“ Callie was making pancakes in the kitchen. It was Saturday morning and Sofia, Mark and Lexie were coming over for breakfast. She looked at her daughter “what’s up?“

“I’m looking for my new black jeans“ she yelled through the flat. “Have you seen them? I can’t find them anywhere“ she whined.

“Have you looked on the chair of your desk?“ Callie knew it was there. Right where she had put them after ironing them.

“Thank youuu“ she yelled and made a bee line through the open living room-kitchen area to her bedroom.

“What is going on?“ She asked Mark and Lexie who finally came through the door and were taking a seat.

“Apparently she’s got a hot date“ Lexie teased. 

“Do not!“ Sofia denied readily. “It’s just a study session“ she weakly argued.

“Hmm I remember studying sessions alright“ Callie mumbled. “Who is it? Do we know them?“

“We’re just chem partner. We’re not even friends“ Sofia was back, wearing her new pair of jeans and sat at the table. She looked at everything her mother had put on the table - scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, pastries, pancakes… It all looked pretty good but she wasn’t hungry. Or she simply couldn’t eat. She didn’t know which one it was anymore.

“So you guys have chemistry together? How cliché“ Callie chuckled at her own cheesy line. Mark only glared at her. 

“Sofia, we do not condone any of this. Okay?“ Mark was serious. So serious Sofia couldn’t help rolling her eyes at him.

“Hey! Don’t roll your eyes at your father young lady“ Callie scolded her. She might be more lenient on the dating area but she was in no way condoning irrespect.

“We’re going to the library. Don’t worry. By the way, I finally booked my plane tickets! I’m going to New York the week before Thanksgiving break for Juilliard’s auditions“ she beamed. Her parents looked at her all proud of her, but sad seeing her grown up.

“That’s really great, Sofia“ Lexie cheered her. Sofia only looked down at her plate. Maybe today she could eat a little something.

“So… Callie“ Mark smirked and Callie instantly regretted teasing her daughter a few seconds earlier. She knew the tone, she knew the eyes, she knew the smile. She was regretting. “How was the date last night? And why isn’t she here this morning?“

“Well… the date was great, thank you. And… I’m meeting her tomorrow for brunch“ she added.

“Mom! What did I say about waiting for the second date?“ Sofia exclaimed in shock. No way was her mother going anywhere looking this desperate.

“Hey she’s the one who asked me out again! I listened to you but I was not about to pass up another opportunity to spend time with her“ she knew she sounded like a desperate woman but she couldn’t care less. Looking at the table full food surrounded by her family, she couldn’t help but feel something was missing. Or rather someone. She hoped this would change, sooner rather than later…

Xxx

Arizona knocked on Callie’s door. Again. It was the second time in less than forty-eight hours and she could see herself pick up the brunette a lot more during the next few weeks and months.

"Coming" she heard the brunette mumble on the other side of the door. Hmm she wishes, she couldn’t help but dream about the time this would come. Waking up in Callie’s arms, peppering her with kisses, making her coffee, and much much more…

“Hi you!“ Callie said as she opened the door. She was looking flushed, her cheeks tinted a light pink, like she’d just been running or… Mind. Out. Of. The. Gutter, Arizona chastised herself.

“Hi gorgeous“ Arizona leaned in and kissed Callie squared on the lips. “I missed you“ she added in the intimate space between them, like it was a secret only to be shared within them. She grabbed both of Callie’s cheeks and kissed her again. Feeling Callie moan into the kiss, she reluctantly stepped back and smiled at her ex, feeling quite proud of herself and the effect she could have on the brunette with a simple kiss. 

“We should go or we’re never gonna find a seat“ Arizona explained, cocking her head at the brunette who simply bit on her lower lip, exposing her pearly whites who blinded the blonde for a second. 

“Let’s go…“ she broke their staring contest. God, this was going to be hard. 

Xxx

“And guess what? She had a study session yesterday“ Callie was explaining to whole thing to Arizona over their brunch. Callie had settled for some avocado toast while Arizona had ordered a stack of pancakes and maple syrup with fresh fruit. They were sharing mimosas and the brunette could start to feel the buzz from their early drinks.

“No way! That’s… crazy. Remember our study sessions?“ Arizona blurted out, then felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. They did nothing but studying back then… Probably not wise to bring this up with a mother concerned about her child.

But Callie simply roared out in laughter. “I know! I was cracking up. Sofia and I had the talk you know, and she’s a conscientious young woman so I trust her not to do anything stupid. Plus if she’s going to have sex I’d rather she enjoys it. Her dad on the other hand… not so happy“ Callie then remembered another detail. “Oh oh and get that - they are Chemistry labs partners“ the brunette had another chuckle.

“Oh my gosh really! This is just too good“ Arizona was having the time of her life. Seeing Callie light up like a Christmas tree every time she talked about her daughter made her think she might be missing something in this life though…

“Would you ever have other kids?“ Arizona couldn’t help but ask. She knew they had already agreed a little over a week ago now that they were going to build a life together. Hell Arizona had practically told Callie she wanted to marry her after less than a date. But this had been on her mind for a while and she wanted — no she needed to know.

And the mimosas helped.

“Hmm I mean sure. I never found anyone to have children with because I was really focused on Sofia. Work never allowed much free time and the little I had was spent with her. But… she’s leaving soon and when we’re there, I could really see ourselves have a cute little blonde head around“ she revealed.

Arizona beamed. She couldn’t believe it. “Good“ she supplied.

“Good?“ The brunette couldn’t believe it. That’s all she got?

“Great…“ the blonde took her hand across the table. “I cannot wait to build a life with you. I meant what I said the other day“ she concluded. Callie only beamed. She never dared to dream about it but maybe, just maybe, she was going to have another shot at love.

Xxx

After insisting on paying - after all, she had invited the brunette, Arizona led them out. She wanted to check out an art gallery and she thought visiting it with Callie would be perfect on this fine, sunny Sunday early afternoon.

Arizona and Callie strolled down the Seattle streets hands in hands, not caring much about stares or whispers sent their way. They didn’t care. They were happy at the moment. 

“What would you have done, if you weren’t a doctor?“ Arizona asked, out of the blue.

“Hmm. Good question, Robbins“ Callie stopped a moment to think about it. “Probably something like engineering. I really liked biology. What about you?“

“I really wanted to be a professional athlete. Go to the Olympic Games or something“ Arizona chuckled. “Silly I know! I’ve never even practiced any sport really… besides cheerleading“ she scrunched her nose in a way Callie found endearing. “Ugh, I don’t know how you ever got with me“ she joked.

“You weren’t a mean cheerleader. You were always perky and really nice to chubby old me. I don’t even know why you gave me the time of day…“ Callie tried to compliment her. 

Arizona didn’t really like it. It sounded wrong. “You could have had anyone you wanted, you realise that?“

Seeing Callie only bend her head, shaking it no, Arizona couldn’t believe it. “Come on… You were — no you still are so so beautiful. Those girls… they were just fake. They might have been pretty or whatever but what you have going on is real, deep beauty“ she argued.

“C’mon, Arizona… even you dated one of them“ Callie gently said. It wasn’t an attempt to be mean or to hurt her ex, it was just to remind her how untrue her statement was. At least in the brunette’s eyes.

“I just — maybe it’s because I haven’t really been in love in this life. I mean, we were together and it was amazing but I don’t know if I just felt cause I was in love because I was a teenager and everything I felt was amplified or or if I truly felt that way. You know, it’s been twenty years. It’s a really long time. I probably idealise those feelings and how good it felt but… I don’t think I’ve ever been in love after that“ Arizona’s heart swelled at the admission. “I’ve been with maybe a handful of people in the meantime. They’ve all left, or cheated on me. So excuse me if I don’t…“ her throat restricted, making it harder to speak without crying. “Excuse me if I don’t believe every word you say…“

“Then let me show it to you. Every day. Of every year. I’ll be here. Everything you can’t do, I will, okay? This is how it works. From now on, I’m here and you can’t get rid of me“ Arizona engulfed her in a tight hug. She felt the brunette sob in her arms and she didn’t care they were in a public setting. Her feelings were always her first priority. 

Xxx

Callie felt embarrassed by the way she got overwhelmed so quickly about her old feelings to Arizona — stuff she never thought the blonde needed to know, yet at the same time she didn’t feel judged in the slightest. Once they had hugged it out, they had gone out to the exhibit as if nothing happened. The only change was that Arizona was now absentmindedly rubbing slight comforting circles on Callie’s hand with her thumb.

The art exhibition was just opening so there was quite some people visiting. Located in Downtown Seattle, an area Callie ever made time to visit, she took her time to look around and appreciate everything. Now she had Arizona’s answer. In another life, she would have made art. She remembered her arts classes — before high school and choosing electives only to prep for the best possibles colleges, she had loved art class. Something she had let Sofia do. She didn’t want to pressure her into choosing a money making career — she rather encouraged her to find her calling. Her passion. 

Even though, yes, she did find something she loved to do. She always felt pressured by her parents — her mother especially, to succeed in academics and become excellent. Lucia Torres never settled for anything less…

Flashback  
“Have you given any more thought to colleges, Calliope?“ Lucia demanded at the breakfast table. It was Sunday morning and Callie knew better than to argue with her.

“I applied to Columbia“ Callie spoke so gently, her mother wouldn’t have heard her if she wasn’t hanging onto her every word.

“¿Que dices? No es posible! When you could chose from Harvard, Johns Hopkins or even Stanford, you chose this?“ Lucia Torres was so mad, the vein on her neck was about to pop.

“Lucia por favor, Calliope made an educated choice, leave her be“ Carlos tried to meddle, as per usual, without ever taking a stand to his irascible wife.

“You know why she’s choosing New York! To party, that’s why“ she spit out.

“Mama, I’ve never even partied. I’m almost 17 and I don’t go out on weekends just to keep up with you!“ Callie tried to point out. Too late, her mother had already landed a hand on her cheek. 

“What are you trying to say? I control you? I only want nothing but the best for you!“ 

Callie felt the tears spill from her eyes. In shock, she could only grab her reddened cheek with her hand. She didn’t care — a few more months, and she would be out of this hell hole. Her dad told her he’d found her a flat already non-far from campus. She was going to make it. 

“Go clean up for church, I won’t be seen with you looking like this“ her mother ended with disgust in her voice.

Xxx

Oh, how times changed. Now, she didn’t even speak with her father anymore and Aria was in a coma, not even close to waking up. She hadn’t really forgiven him for his lack of support against her mother and always taking her side over his daughter’s, but she thought it was too late anyway to mend their relationship now. Her mother’s passing had affected her more than she thought it would — she’d thought she’d grieved her a long time ago. Turns out she always held onto hope they’d come around… just like your father.

“What’s going on in this beautiful head of yours?“ Arizona sneaked up behind her. She had been staring a the same photograph for a long time, in her defence…

“Hmm nothing“ Callie melted into the intimate touch. Arizona had settled her right hand onto the small of Callie’s back. Enough blubbering for one date, she thought.

“Have you enjoyed it so far?“ The blonde asked. Callie nodded and smiled, showing she genuinely did.

“Think we could head back to the hospital?“ Callie asked. “It’s just, I usually visit Aria on Sundays. You know, our family was big on Sundays“ she started rambling but Arizona pecked her lips lightly to stop her. 

“Sure, let’s stop by a flower shop first okay?“ She asked. 

Callie beamed at her ex’s thoughtfulness and the fact that she didn’t mind going back to their workplace on a Sunday. “Plus, we can visit The Colonel. You’ll make a great buffer“ Arizona added jokingly. 

Callie stopped in her pace. Shit. She was meeting the parents all over again.


	15. Chapter 15

“Stop. Pacing!“ Arizona ushered Callie to sit down. They were in Aria’s hospital room, just passing to say hi and give her the fresh flowers Arizona had insisted on buying today — saying it was a Treat Calliope Day. 

Callie felt suddenly like a teenager meeting her girlfriends parents for the first time all over again. She was nervous, she couldn’t sit still. Her hands were moist while her mouth went dry. She didn’t know why she was so worked up, they were Momma B and Dad. She knew them.

“What if they hate me? I’ve never done this, ever before! Well, besides… with them. With you. But that doesn’t count right? I mean, I have a daughter now… A full grown daughter ready to go to college“ Callie was off. “What if they think I don’t deserve you? That I don’t deserve their precious daughter. The Colonel can kill me — he, he, he told me multiple times he could. I know for a fact I’d kill me if I was him! I’m not what you’d want for your daughter. Hell, I’m not what I’d want for my daughter…“

Arizona chuckled at the adorableness of her girlfriend - wait, no. No no no no. Way too soon to be thinking like that Robbins. Don’t need to scare off the woman. Not girlfriends yet.

“C’mon Cal. The Colonel always liked you - probably way more than me“ she tried to reassure the brunette. She remembered how Callie was always hanging at her place when she was younger. Her parents loved the young Latina — and she did them. Callie craved a sense of normalcy, she just wanted parents who were around and joked with their kids. The only thing Callie did with her parents was going to church and socialising — both of which she hated.

Flashback  
“Arizona! Timothy! Dinner’s ready“ the voice of Daniel Robbins boomed through the stairs, urging his kids to come down from their bedroom.

“Coming!“ They both yelled and ran down the stairs, racing for the dining table. 

“Last one to the table is a little shit“ Tim whispered to his little sister, pushing her aside and jogging down the stairs first. He knew he was winning.

“Hey! No fair!“ She yelled at him but continued running. Arizona still ran to the chair though. She crossed her arms and started pouting when Tim just laughed at her. “Daddyyy Tim cheated!“ she whined, then mumbling to herself, “I’m not a little shit!“

Her mother placed the meal on the table and they all chuckled at the teenagers’ antics - who sounded about five years old rather than fifteen at the moment. However, one deep and sultry chuckle made Arizona’s head snap up. “Calliopeee!“ She squealed and got up to hug her girlfriend. “When did you get here?“ She asked while embracing her still, her lips grazing her ear which made the Latina shiver.

“I knocked and Momma B opened, so I helped her in the kitchen“ the brunette kissed her cheek before urging her to sit back down at the dinner table.

“Unlike some of you little rascals“ the voice of the Colonel was deep as ever, making both his children realise he was very serious. 

“Sorry Dad“ they both mumbled. They had been too caught up in their activity in their room that they hadn’t even heard their mother calling them. The Colonel couldn’t help but grin, as he shook his head disapprovingly. He knew they were good kids. Most of his hard work educating had paid off, and now he enjoyed teasing them more than anything else. 

“Well Barb, Callie, this looks wonderful!“ the Colonel beamed at the young Latina. “Please, do sit down“ he showed her the seat next to him. She only nodded, her smile still on her lips. Arizona sat down next to her girlfriend and put her hand on Callie’s thigh. She knew her father had really taken up to her girlfriend, especially when he saw how her parents reacted to her coming out. 

Xxx

“Yeah he did. But what if he doesn’t anymore?“ She nervously fidgeted with her hands, before randomly standing up. Being in her sister’s room was making her crazy with thought. “Let’s go!“

They were holding hands and walking through the hospital halls, sometimes getting looks from nurses or fellow doctors. Arizona couldn’t help the giddy smile on her face. She just loved this feeling of belonging that had resurfaced since the other night. Talking with Callie always made her feel better — something none of her exes were able to get from her. She just didn’t know how to share with the girls she’d… date? Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night Robbins.

By instinct, Callie shook off her head once they stepped onto the Ortho ward. Every one greeted the Head of Department who wasn’t supposed to be here today… but still showed up. She pointed her head at Arizona, as if to tell her go ahead. She walked up to the nurses station to check on charts and other patients, while chatting with the nurse there. 

“Hi Dad…“ Arizona started saying while opening the door of his room. “Oh — Oh! Mom! Dad!“ she rushed out of their room. “Calliopeee“ she ran off to her girlfriend ready to cry.

“What? What’s happening? Are they okay?“ Callie bolted running off to the room the blonde had just ran off from.

“Oh! Hmm… Colonel Robbins… Mrs. Robbins...“ Callie stumbled upon her words. “I thought — never mind. Right.“ She was blushing profusely while Barbara was buttoning her blouse back up. “I’ll be right back…“ she muttered under her breath, looking for the blonde. 

She found her around the corner hiding behind a cart. “I did not expect this coming here today! I did not want to see this“ the blonde rambled.

“Come on. I think it’s actually sweet“ Callie tried to rationalise.

“You think so because it wasn’t your parents you just caught doing the deed!“ Arizona exclaimed. Seeing odd looks from patients and hospital personnel around them, she shushed down. “My father is barely out of surgery! Can you believe they’re already missing it so much that—“

Callie pressed her lips on pink ones to cut off her ramblings. “I’ll deal with… that“ she offered. “As his medical professional?“

“Thank you so much“ the blonde sighed in relief. She didn’t want to have to talk about… that, ever with her parents. Barbara Robbins had given her enough sex talks when she was a teenager for a lifetime. 

“So much for meeting the parents again“ the brunette joked. 

Arizona gave her a light slap on the ass, scolding her. 

“Too soon?“ Callie asked in a chuckle.

“He may hate you now though!“ Arizona warned her.

Callie’s face just went blank. “I might actually throw up.“

Xxx

“Colonel Robbins… Mrs Robbins…“ she greeted for the second time of the day. “So, everything looks good“ she started off. “Stats… Labs…“ she muttered, flipping through his chart. “Now, I have to say… as your physician…“ she cleared her throat. God this is awkward, she thought. “No straining for a few weeks. This means no sexual activity of course. Until I give you the… um… all clear“ she forcefully ended. 

“Funny coming from the woman who took my sweet pea’s virginity“ the Colonel stated with a straight face.

“This is for your well-being, um Sir.“ She quickly added.

“Oh he’s just messing with ya“ Barbara intervened, trying to save the poor woman. “He’s a bit grumpy when he can’t have his—“

“Okay I really don’t need to hear this“ Callie felt rude for interrupting her. “With all due respect, of course…“ she once again felt like she couldn’t handle this right.

“Oh come on, Callie! It’s just us. We used to be family“ Barbara patted the brunette’s shoulder. 

Callie cleared her throat and looked out of the door, for her blonde eyed ex who was supposed to come back into the room and introduce her to her parents. Arizona had fled — not that Callie blamed her, she was probably scarred for life. Barbara followed Callie’s gaze out the door and she saw her daughter standing there. “C’mere, sweet pea!“

“Oh… mom, dad.“ She greeted. “I was coming here…“ she started with difficulty, “so you guys could see Calliope. We were having brunch together and she came to see Aria down in Neuro so we thought we’d… pop in here“ Arizona explained. “You guys seem to be doing well“ she muttered under her breath. 

Once both parents had greeted her and somewhat awkwardly hugged her, saying they really didn’t mind the surprise visit — which Arizona could hardly believe herself, conversation flew somewhat easily. Both parents were happy to see the Ortho surgeon again after years of losing touch, yet couldn’t help feeling like something hadn’t been said. Like their daughter was smiling wider than usual and laughing more than yesterday…

Xxx

Come Monday, Callie was sat at the cafeteria eating lunch with Tim, Teddy and Arizona. She couldn’t help staring at her blonde. She had put her hand on her thigh under the table, which had earned her a slight glare from Teddy who had been kind enough not to say anything to an oblivious Tim.

Both siblings were laughing about something the brunette hadn’t quite caught, being so distracted in the feel of the warm skin under her fingertips, when a deep voice boomed at their table. “Tooorres“ came Mark’s voice.

Callie only groaned. “How are you, Sloan“ she gritted through her teeth. She knew this tone and she was scared of what he was going to say. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you caught patients bumping uglies yesterday?“ He was laughing already.

“What? No way! You only have old people in Ortho too! What happened?“ Tim bombarded her with questions, hitting fists with Sloan as they were both shaking uncontrollably. “This is…“ Great, he was going to say. He stopped when he saw Arizona choking on her food and Callie didn’t dare look up from her trail. 

“What?“ He half whispered, out of breath.

“You don’t wanna know“ Arizona supplied with a tight smile.

“Oh come on! You have to tell us!“ Tim grinned lecherously. 

“It was your… It was the Colonel’s room“ Callie stopped his thoughts. Tim exploded in laughter. 

“No way? Those old things? What did you say Cal?“ Tim slapped his thigh. “This is great!“

“I wasn’t the one who caught them. She was“ Callie pointed at her ex. “Needless to say, she’s scarred“ Callie was smirking, trying her damnest not to laugh too. She could see Arizona getting flustered. 

“I don’t need reminding Calliope, thank you very much“ she mumbled, crossing her legs back under the table, forgetting the brunette’s hand down there. She gulped when she realised how much further up it had slid thanks to her actions and continued to blush profusely.

“Bahaha I never knew you to be such a prude Flagstaff“ the trauma surgeon continued laughing.

The blonde could only stuff more fries into her mouth hoping this would make her forget about the throb between her legs. She glanced at Callie who was discussing as if nothing was happening with their colleagues and friends. 

“Stop it“ Arizona breathed out, getting more flustered by the second. Callie didn’t even flinch, thinking she was saying it to her brother. 

“C’mon, Arizona, I was just kidding“ Tim apologised still laughing.

Arizona huffed and uncrossed her legs, trying to regain some composure. She rearranged her seat and scooted it up to the table, resulting in a caramel hand only closing in on her. “Ugh, fine, I’m not hungry anymore, I gotta go“ she stood up resolutely and tossed her tray away.

Callie only looked at her as if to ask her if she was okay and saw the flush on fair cheeks and felt herself getting turned on as well. Arizona bolted from the cafeteria before anyone else could notice. 

As soon as the blonde was out of sight, the brunette’s pager beeped : On Call Room 3, Peds floor, rn x

Callie felt her arousal pool into her panties and she had to brace herself on the table for fear of fainting. This woman is so hot, she’s going to be the death of me, she thought.

Trying to be subtler than the Peds surgeon before her, she bid her goodbye to their colleagues — not that they cared, they were used to surgeons bolting out of lunch for emergencies of all kind.

She ran up the stairs and arrived on the Peds floor out of breath. She was on autopilot. As soon as she had opened the door, pink lips were attacking her. Callie only took time to lock the door she had been pushed against a few seconds earlier before losing herself into the heat of passion. She brought her hands in Arizona’s hair, only descending them onto her neck when the blonde attacked her neck. Arizona had her hands on Callie’s hips, her thumbs drawing circles into the pelvis bone — the Latina’s weak spot since forever. 

“Fuck, you remember“ she husked into the blonde’s ear. 

“I remember everything about you Cal“ Arizona stopped for a second, only to look into darker eyes and prove the complete genuineness of her words. She lunged forward and forcefully entered her lover’s mouth, their tongues reconnecting like they had never been apart. She couldn’t get over the taste of Callie. 

The Latina took both her hands and let them wander down Arizona’s back, letting them under the blonde’s scrub top. She felt her shiver in her arms when she traced down her spine, making Callie moan into the kiss. Arizona’s eyes rolled back into their sockets instantly. “Oh my God“ she moaned as well. “You’re making me so wet“ she whispered into the Latina’s ear. 

“Hmm am I?“ Callie cheekily answered. She let her hands into the dark blue scrub pants and grabbed Arizona’s ass with both her hands. She started nipping at the exposed flesh of her neck, biting lightly as to not let any marks. 

“Fuck… yes like this… you knew what you were doing in the cafeteria didn’t you“ Arizona breathed out, rolling her hips into her lover. 

“I could feel the way you got hotter by the second…“ Callie admitted. “You might want to get out of these pants or you’re going to wet them through“ she added with a chuckle. While Arizona might remember Callie’s most erogenous spots, the brunette especially remembers the way Arizona could get really, really wet. Damp. Moist. It was so beautiful, she wasn’t sure she had appreciated it enough when they were dating. The thought only made her knees buckle in want.

“Ugh, you’re ri- hmmm“ Arizona was cut off by her own moan coming from deep into her throat when Callie started kissing her right above her sternum, right between her clavicles. Callie pushed herself from the door they were still standing against and laid Arizona onto the nearest twin bed. It would have to do. She squatted in front of the blonde who was looking at her expectantly, eyes full of lust. She put her thumbs into the pants and took them off without breaking eyes contact, while Arizona quickly discarded her shoes. Callie then did the same and started crawling onto the bed. Kissing her way up fair thighs, she only placed one kiss at the top of the blonde’s mound. She lifted her scrub top and continued leaving hot open mouthed kissed on her way up to the blonde’s mouth. She nipped at the skin on her way and motioned for the blonde to lift her arms so she could take off her top, which Arizona readily agreed to. 

None of them were thinking. It was like a slow, well known dance they hadn’t practised for a long time but they couldn’t get out of their head. 

As soon as Callie was face to face with her lover, the petite blonde locked both of her legs around her hips and turned them around. “Thought you could top me, Calliope?“ She chuckled before kissing red lips again. Callie rolled her hips in reaction, making their cores collide in a delicious friction. At this point, they were both turned on behind the point of no-return. Arizona could swear she had never felt such a powerful orgasm building — it was like she was already in a haze even though she hadn’t even started coming yet.

“Fuck Callie, can you—“ she was cut off by a moan as she felt two fingers tweaking at her breasts that had been popped out from her bra. “Shiit. Hmm“ she whined in desperation, she really needed to cum. It had been longer than ever for her — she had never gone longer than a week or so without getting off. But every time she had tried hooking up, she could only see Callie’s face and she wasn’t about to disrespect a woman like this. She had tried to get herself off, but… same problem there. 

“Can you cum like this?“ She asked hotly, while still grinding their hips together. She felt like a teen who had just discovered dried humping but damn, it felt good. It was like their bodies were melted together. They were designed to be like this, in this position, for the rest of their lives. The Yin to her Yang. 

“Hmm… yess.. just give me a bit more“ Callie moaned out. Arizona desperately took off the brunette’s shirt and bra as well as her own bra that was in the way, and started rocking their whole bodies together. She could feel herself about to cum into her underwear and usually she would have cared — hating being in wet panties more than anything, but the light that had dazed her mind made her completely forget. 

“Fuck! Calliopeee“ she moaned while starting to come. Her whole body convulsed on top of the brunette’s who was right behind her. “Oh fuck! Fuckkk Arizona“ their hips continued jerking against one another in pleasure and oblivion. “Yesss“ she collapsed onto the bed, cuddling into her lover. They both laid in a mess of limbs trying to catch their breath. 

This felt like Heaven.

Xxx

Callie was stroking absentmindedly Arizona’s hair while the blonde was napping into her arms. It felt like she had needed the sleep, so Callie stayed and made sure she got some much needed shut eye. The blonde probably wouldn’t admit it aloud, but she was starting to stretch herself thin between the nights spent at the hospital watching over her dad and the long shifts. Even when she went home, her body wouldn’t let her rest. She was always thinking about something — usually the other person in the on call room.

About 20 minutes later, the Peds surgeon rang into the room and Arizona shot up. “Hmm sorry I didn’t mean to…“ she mumbled, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment. 

“Fall asleep on me?“ The brunette teased. 

“Hey! I remember you had a very good finish…“ Arizona pecked her lips. “I gotta go…“ she sighed. As the blonde stood up, she grimaced. She really hated wet underwear…

“You okay babe?“ The nickname fell right off Callie’s lips. She couldn’t have stopped it if she tried. 

Arizona scrunched up her nose in this adorable way that made Callie’s heart sore. She decided to just discard her underwear in the bin — she would be much more comfortable this way anyway. 

Callie’s eyes darkened when she saw her bend over to take them off. “Hmm nice view“ the Latina chuckled. Arizona turned around, dragging her scrub pants up. “Behave, Calliope! Or else…“

“Else what?“ She challenged. 

Arizona’s pager beeped again. She sighed, “Rain check?“

Callie nodded and smiled. “Go save lives!“

Arizona bent down and kissed the brunette’s lips before she turned around. “Love you!“ She yelled in the room. The on call room door closed behind her and Arizona’s hand instantly went onto her mouth. Shit shit shit shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I just posted like... four new chapters? Lol I'm the worst at updating on here. Have fun and please review guys :)


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